own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment View all partners Never mind concerns about how the United States seems on the brink of another civil war. Thanks to President Donald Trump and his consigliere it’s now sinking wide and deep into what historical patterns show is an ugly “uncivil” war Historians and neuro-scientists show there are well-established psychological patterns that explain how personal fear fosters anger that leads to a need for action to eliminate the fear This dynamic has been evident in much of my 40 years of experience and research on public protests, including my doctorate on public order policing and subsequent ongoing analysis Google Trends offers a scientifically valid rating of global search engine topics rated on a weighted scale of 100. In the U.S. on March 10, 2025, for example, the search topic “I am so angry all the time” hit the top of the 100 index, the highest in more than 20 years. The widespread public reaction to staffing cuts under Musk’s direction is receiving high domestic and international blowback from not only natural political critics, but Trump’s own Republicans. The reaction follows that tried-and-true trajectory of public dissent and protest escalating from fear to anger to action This is evident in the reactions currently ranging from street-level public protests, a litany of court challenges and online outrage to U.S. government departments refusing to respond to the latest missive from Musk’s team demanding employees prove their worth or quit actor Peter Finch — playing a volcanic TV newscaster — goes berserk My life has value … I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” In response thousands go to their windows and scream his rallying cry In perhaps a similar vein, leaders at the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy recently instructed federal workers not to reply to a weekend email from the Office of Personnel Management with the subject line: “What did you do last week?” The fear-anger-action dynamic is now unfolding in America Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah told CBS news: it’s ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut The response from Musk and Trump to the outrage follows a proven pattern of action and anti-action my colleagues and I have termed the “4-D defense” of deny, divert, delay and destroy. We discovered this pattern through many years of research on public activism for both industry and government agencies, and it was the focus of my PhD dissertation We analyzed the content of thousands of traditional news stories public opinion surveys and the socio-demographics of fearful groups that were angry they were being impacted by actions that were unfair We found that the defensive 4-D reaction works like this: agree to remedies but delay the process as long as possible through promises and endless consultations then destroy those protesting by besmirching their credibility and reputations with erroneous and confusing counter-facts and entangled lawsuits Trump is quick to jump to the “destroy” part of 4-D defense through threats that have included bullying and crushing tariffs Another example of this Trump tendency was a recent heated Truth Social post in which he vowed to “imprison or deport students who participate in certain protests” against his attacks on education Musk responded on his social media site, X, that reactions by frightened and angry employees to arbitrary firings was “EXTREMELY troubling that some parts of government think this is TOO MUCH!! What is wrong with them?” Musk appears to be embracing the 1911 “scientific management” style of Frederick Taylor an American inventor and engineer who is known as the father of scientific management He argued that the “greatest evil” in the workplace was lazy employees who were simply “replaceable cogs on a wheel.” When Musk asks “what is wrong with them?” in reference to the fear anger and demands for protective action from hundreds of thousands of federal employees It seems they’re “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” Every single time the Trump administration loses a court ruling count on this: It’ll rail against the evils of a single unelected district-court judge upending the president’s policy agenda This week, a district judge in D.C. temporarily blocked President Trump’s ban on transgender military troops. “Indefensible judicial tyranny,” White House adviser Stephen Miller responded on social media Another judge put a hold on the deportation of noncitizens under the Alien Enemies Act (or tried to; the Trump administration was less than fastidious in implementing his order). Trump called for the impeachment of this “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge a troublemaker and agitator,” prompting a rare public rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts A string of federal judges paused the efforts of Elon Musk and DOGE to fire federal employees and dismantle government agencies. “What is the point of having democratic elections if unelected activist ‘judges’ can override the clear will of the people? Well, that’s no democracy at all!” Musk asked himself and answered recirculating a post invoking a “JUDICIAL COUP.” The public rhetoric from Trump and his brass has become overwrought and they seem to be dueling to out-emote one another The argument against these “nationwide injunctions” has plenty of commonsense appeal. We have 700 or so presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed (but unelected) federal district-court (trial-level) judges in all the Northern District of California or the Western District of Texas have the power to dictate policy across the entire country contrary to the priorities of the duly elected president and … 64 against the first Trump administration while liberal anti-Trump plaintiffs flock to the federal district courts in D.C. Now, during Trump’s first two months back in office, district-court judges have already issued more than a dozen nationwide injunctions blocking his policy initiatives it looks like judges (almost all of them nominated by Democratic presidents) have engineered a successful judicial Trump resistance where actual elected Democrats have failed Or the stats could simply reflect that Trump has tried to enact more unlawful policies than his contemporaries did The conundrum is that nationwide injunctions are easy to criticize but hard to fix. What’s the alternative? Impressive think pieces abound often voicing the valid complaint that judges who issue nationwide injunctions effectively bind not only the actual parties to the lawsuit but also many outside non-parties contrary to core tenets of judicial moderation and fairness If each district court can reach its own independent ruling binding only on the participants in that case one district judge ordered a pause on the military transgender policy but another allowed the policy to be implemented What if 11 judges across the country purported to block Trump’s effort to withhold federal funding from USAID but nine others ruled to the contrary There might be some way to get these cases up the appellate chain more quickly That could help expedite resolution of interdistrict conflicts but it doesn’t fully solve the underlying problem of inconsistent application of law based on geography (and it would require a complicated fix that is plainly not imminent) It’s become a default diversionary tactic to rail against nationwide injunctions unelected judge usurping the president’s power Tiptoe up to the line of open defiance of a court order self-aggrandizing political wannabe in a black robe But when we cut through the hyperbole and the transparent scapegoating Trump and his supporters are on to a legitimate complaint that has dogged presidents of both parties for decades By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York Tuesday World Subscribers only Friedrich Merz bets on two private sector converts to revive the German economy and reform the state World Subscribers only 'A Pope in the tradition of Francis': From New York to Ghana Catholics hope for continuity at the Vatican World Subscribers only Chancellor Merz's diplomatic first week 2025."> World Trump's proposal to reopen Alcatraz deemed 'absurd' in San Francisco World Subscribers only Founder of Sant'Egidio community fears next pope could undo Francis's legacy Opinion Subscribers only 'Russian gas and Europe is an old story that ended badly Economy Subscribers only Europe's steel industry flattened by crisis World Subscribers only How European countries plan to fund defense efforts France Subscribers only Macron announces citizens' convention on school schedules France Subscribers only 21 charged over French prison attacks as investigation narrows in on drug traffickers France Subscribers only French mosque stabber was driven by 'morbid fascination,' prosecutor says France Subscribers only At the trial of Kim Kardashian's robbers Videos World expos: From Paris 1855 to Osaka 2025 Videos How the Trump administration is attacking scientific research in the US Videos Tesla cars set on fire in Las Vegas as calls to boycott Musk's company grow worldwide Videos Can France's nuclear deterrent protect Europe Opinion Subscribers only 'It is pointless to imagine a significant wave of American academics leaving' Opinion Subscribers only 'The American dream is dying' Opinion Subscribers only 'The trade war creates new opportunities for Europeans and France' Magazine Subscribers only Tracking down the pianos taken from French Jews during the Nazi Occupation Magazine Subscribers only Eve Rodsky the American helping couples balance the mental load Magazine Subscribers only Desecration or more glory Joan Didion's private diaries are revealed Magazine Subscribers only For Jewish cartoonist Joann Sfar 2025."> Pixels Subscribers only Golden Owl solution is revealed but leaves players of 31-year hunt disappointed Pixels Subscribers only Secrets of decades-long Golden Owl treasure hunt to be revealed Lifestyle Inside Chanel's French leather workshops Culture Subscribers only The marvelous bronzes of Angkor on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris In response to the totalitarian pressure exerted on Europe by the Russian president winner of the 2024 Jacques Delors European Book Prize emphasizes Ukraine's European identity and sounds the alarm about a return of the 'kidnapped West' evoked by Milan Kundera Published on March 1, 2025, at 3:46 am (Paris), updated on March 3, 2025, at 12:35 pm 4 min read Lire en français when Russian troops occupied Crimea and launched an insurrection of criminals and separatists in eastern Ukraine we could still afford to be "shocked" and "stunned." Even on the eve of February 24 after months of deployment of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops we still refused to believe that a full-scale territorial conflict against a European country would ensue Europe has been watching almost daily on the news what is happening less than two hours' flight from here: the relentless bombardment of cities the flight of millions of people out of war zones and across borders countless crimes perpetrated against the civilian population missile strikes close to nuclear facilities – in short the annihilation of the Ukrainian nation's livelihood The aim is to plunge Ukraine into cold and darkness and force it to surrender This is not happening somewhere we don't know the millenary city of cathedrals and monasteries a metropolis of 1920s modernist skyscrapers the former Habsburg Lemberg) was not spared by Russian missiles whose promenade and Potemkin staircase we know from Sergei Eisenstein's (1898-1948) film Battleship Potemkin (1927) How would Europeans react if bombs fell on Trieste It is a dangerous illusion to assume that this is just a Russian-Ukrainian conflict whether by their statements or their actions as to their objectives: to regain control of Central and Eastern Europe and restore the Europe of Yalta which Milan Kundera (1929-2023) once called the "kidnapped West," in an article published in 1983 in the magazine Le Débat (Gallimard) A foretaste of this is presented in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine with their prison camps and torture chambers refuses to see that Putin is in fact waging a war against Europe and the West You have 66.79% of this article left to read Lecture du Monde en cours sur un autre appareil Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur En cliquant sur « Continuer à lire ici » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez mais en les utilisant à des moments différents Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article merci de contacter notre service commercial Werner Lorant once made history with the "Löwen" He truly earned his nickname "Beinhart" Werner Lorant spent his retirement in Waging am See He lived in a vacation apartment above the reception of the local campsite with his girlfriend Brigitte and his dog Jackson who had earned the nickname "Beinhart" ("tough as nails") for his toughness towards opponents was still coaching children at the five-star facility during the summer months at the local football school together with former national team player Dieter Eckstein It was a long journey from Welver in the district of Soest to a campsite with a view of the Chiemgau Alps who died on Easter Sunday in a hospital in Wasserburg am Inn at the age of 76 but his talent as a professional footballer became apparent early on Lorant once grabbed his opponent Jupp Kapellmann so hard in the privates that the international had to go to hospital At the side of then president Karl-Heinz Wildmoser the man with the white high-voltage hairstyle led the "Lions" from July 1992 onwards from the 3rd division almost all the way to the Champions League Lorant celebrated his greatest success in the 1999/2000 season when TSV won two derbies against FC Bayern and finished fourth in the table to qualify for the Champions League "I only make changes when someone breaks a leg," the hot-blooded coach once said formulating his questionable secret to success Lorant was forced to leave TSV 1860 and was dismissed by Wildmoser in a dispute he was a very demanding person," Wildmoser "He only cares about his shitty Allianz Arena you need a team that can win," said Lorant against Wildmoser's plans at the time who nevertheless refused to be deterred from building a stadium with rivals FC Bayern he could hardly do anything with today's generation of players "Many of them lack the right attitude to become even better," criticized Lorant who also repeatedly commented on the events at his "Löwen" "Most of them can't even find a place to live themselves," he scoffed "They get everything blown up their asses." he had claimed that he would be 100 years old: "I know that." It didn't come to that But the "Löwen" family will remember him "He has left a deep mark on TSV 1860 Munich The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) has announced the cohort of its 2025 Waging Justice for Women (WJW) Fellowship launched in 2023 to empower the next generation of African gender justice advocates In partnership with the Fund for Global Human Rights’ Legal Empowerment Fund (LEF) the WJW Fellowship fully funds and mentors 10 early-career African women lawyers to work at women’s rights and gender justice organizations across the region The fellows each receive one year’s salary—funded by CFJ and administered by LEF—to work on a wide variety of women’s and girls’ rights issues Each fellow will support at least one strategic litigation case designed to advance women’s rights in courts or human rights institutions at the national or regional level and experts from across Africa and around the world This year’s fellows hail from a range of careers In the fellowship’s inaugural year (2023-24) 10 fellows worked on more than 230 cases relating to detention fellows provided legal information to over 1,000 women and girls through legal clinics and other community events They also engaged more than 2,600 school children—half of them girls—and provided information on legal rights and career paths “I am so inspired by the incredible young women beginning their fellowship with CFJ,” said CFJ co-founder Amal Clooney “We can’t wait to see what this next generation of justice warriors will achieve.” For a complete list of 2025 WJW fellows see the Clooney Foundation for Justice website (Photo credit: June Mweteeli/courtesy of Clooney Foundation for Justice) While benefits of volunteering have been well documented, less than 1 percent of total giving went directly to volunteer engagement between 2016 and 2025, a report from Points of Light finds Where should nonprofits focus resources dedicated to volunteers select any of the newsletters listed below Please report it so we can improve the news we bring you and more delivered to your inbox with Philanthropy News Digest newsletters Candid gets you the information you need to do good Fat people are fighting back against the cruel airline industry because they can't fit in their tiny seats.  Nearly 40,000 fat Americans – I can say ‘fat’ because Trump won and this country is toughening back up thank GOD – signed a petition called the Body Equality In Travel petition hoping to convince airlines to start making their seats bigger.  that just sounds like a fancy way to ask them to make every seat a first-class seat the leader of this Fats Against Planes petition is some big-boned TikToker named Jae’lynn Chaney who pumped out this video and went mega-viral just a few weeks ago: I hate the whole damn thing – except the airport bar If you could drink at a hotel bar at 6 a.m Instead of putting all that energy into this petition harness it and put it into a salad once in a while.  There. Fixed it. Now, you can fit in 15B I'm certainly on my way back to being one because A) I have two kids It's only a matter of time until I'm back over 200 pounds That's what they called me to make me feel better – husky As if I didn't see right through that BS I also didn't bitch and moan about it and start a fat people petition I worked as a cabana boy on Nantucket one summer maybe mixed in a cigarette or two to speed up the process and BAM – skinny Zach was born.  this isn't on the airlines to make their seats bigger I'd rather they focus 100% on not crashing You are agreeing to OutKick's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting. Gambling related content is not intended for anyone under the age of 21. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content intelligent survivors should garner our respect and admiration but instead they're targeted and killed in hideous ways Coyotes are a fundamental part of our urban environment—they're our neighbors in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and New York City who wrote the excellent Coyote America: A Natural & Supernatural History coyotes are now the most common large wildlife species most Americans will ever see You're far more likely to spot a coyote than our national bird which is now rare because of our murderous ways and whose decimation should serve as a cautionary tale for our treatment of coyotes Related: Part coyote, part wolf, part dog: Enter the coywolf There is no end to the ways humans have found to exterminate these beautiful canines shooting them and poisoning them with strychnine (along with any other unfortunate "non-target" animal who happens to take the bait) Seal Beach and Torrance are targeting coyotes—even though the state's own wildlife department has found that trapping is an ineffective long-term solution to controlling their population expressed concerns about the cruelty of using neck and leg snares to trap and then kill coyotes PETA has filed a lawsuit to stop this plan Sheep and goats have been fitted with collars containing the gut-wrenching poison 1080 so that when coyotes attack there are still "no limit" coyote-killing contests with prizes for the most tails turned in And if you travel down a backroad in rural Oklahoma or Texas don't be surprised if you see dead coyotes hanging from fences Coyotes are smart enough to recognize their enemy: They typically flee rather than having anything to do with humans They've learned to be wary—and rightfully so they wrestle and yip and howl and carry on (Flores calls their song our "original national anthem.") They keep tabs on each other and love to play Even though coyotes provide natural rodent control (their food of choice is rodents) whose fault is it really when they venture down the hillsides in search of easy pickin's where innumerable dangers can easily befall them or who leave food out for feral cat colonies are sending coyotes an engraved invitation Why should they be killed simply for trying to live to see another day Our wild neighbors have far more to fear from us than we do from them It's time to recognize animals' rightful place in the world and learn to coexist in peace James Cromwell is an actor and producer Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker “I am your voice!” Donald Trump told the crowd and the cameras at the Republican National Convention a year ago last July, in a speech that keeps suggesting itself to me as one of those moments where history shifted on its axis just a little 100 feet or so behind the back of Trump’s head next to my Salon colleague Amanda Marcotte I was feverishly taking pointless notes I would never consult again — the speeches of any public figure are of course meticulously recorded — and Amanda was staring into space and chewing gum so hard I was concerned she might dislocate her jaw It was deathly quiet in the press section; in retrospect I think we all understood what was happening and didn’t want to admit it If Trump was the voice of those supposedly angry people out in Television Land the ones with some incoherent sense that their country had been taken away and they wanted it back Because if we can generalize about Trump’s public utterances over the last couple of years it might be by observing that almost nothing he says is true and a lot of it is crackpot racist-uncle ranting from the universe where it’s obvious that violent crime is way up (and caused by black people) Mexicans and Muslims are inherently dangerous and Hillary Clinton couldn’t possibly have won the popular vote Maybe what the Voice of the People was saying was that reality was not acceptable in its current form — that is as actually existing reality — and he was here to replace it with another one eloquent rhetoric about how facts don’t seem to matter to Trump or his supporters or the Republican elected officials clinging to his coattails with their eyes closed The tax bill currently being crammed through Congress under completely false pretenses offers a proximate example; we could exhaust ourselves listing dozens of others True enough. But maybe the “alternative facts” and manufactured pseudo-reality of Trumpian politics are not a side effect or byproduct but its central purpose or even its meaning. In a series of columns this summer, I tried to develop the late Jean Baudrillard’s thesis that after 9/11 the world had entered a new phase of historical conflict in which the global capitalist order was effectively at war with itself That’s still a useful formulation in terms of understanding the resurgence of both right-wing nationalism and radical leftism in many different places, long after the supposed “end of history.” But when it comes to the Trump phenomenon Although Trump is clearly neither intelligent nor well-informed he possesses an undeniable performative genius that should not be underestimated and has consistently befuddled his enemies It does no good to keep on exclaiming that his accomplishments are nonexistent and his policies nonsensical as if that were a discovery that might change anyone’s mind Those are in fact the pillars of Donald Trump’s presidency He is waging a war against reality; to this point That’s not a new observation; many commentators (myself included) have been making various versions and iterations of this argument for months. It was fleshed out in some detail this week by columnist Thomas B who remains one of the best reasons to read the New York Times In arguing that Trump “has single-handedly done more to undermine the basic tenets of American democracy than any foreign agent or foreign propaganda campaign ever could,” Edsall makes the important point that Russian interference in the 2016 election is a secondary issue or as Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky tells him that “to blame Putin for the mess we are in today would be ridiculous.” One could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness Understood in its full contemporary context that passage may hold the key to the Trump presidency If fakery is actually the content and purpose of this presidency and if everybody understands that on some level then at least we are liberated from the endless media self-torture and amateur anthropology regarding Trump’s “working-class” base in the picturesque hinterlands of hurricane-damaged KenTaco Huts You know what I’m talking about: What do they want When will they wake up and understand that liberals who condescend to them from afar actually have their best interests at heart Let’s give Trump’s voters a little credit: They’re not actually dumb enough to believe that his ludicrous promises can be enacted in the physical world and that his presidency will culminate with a “Game of Thrones”-style border wall the expulsion of all Muslim and Latino immigrants and the public execution of Hillary Clinton We’re talking about a class and a nation indoctrinated to believe that power relations will never change politics is a meaningless charade and American life is defined by boring jobs and endless consumption under the circumstances it’s hard to blame them for those conclusions.) what they were really voting for with Donald Trump was the as-seen-on-TV version of those things: a disruptive theater of hate featuring lots of vulgar rhetoric and deliberate provocation along with some feints toward actual totalitarianism (as in Charlottesville) but designed more than anything else to shock and terrify the bicoastal educated classes they perceive as the “elite” or the “establishment.” Since that’s exactly what they’ve gotten it’s hard to see why they should be disappointed or repentant Do I attribute too much cynicism to the American voter Possibly the latter; I’m not sure the former is even possible I am not remotely suggesting that objective reality does not exist or does not matter: Republicans are taking advantage of Trump’s fantasy regime to do all kinds of real and very bad things including deregulating polluting industries packing the federal courts with right-wing judges and rewriting the tax code such that a little more of your money and mine disappears into some dude’s numbered account in the Caymans If Democrats or progressive socialists or whoever you like better than Trump are going to defeat his Disneyland of hate in the political arena of course reality must be their battleground and their weapon (It would help if they had a story to tell that was even half as compelling as his and the resolution of that question may be the ultimate legacy of the Bernie Sanders campaign.) As we saw recently in Virginia there is some reason for optimism on that front But based on the evidence we see before us it does not appear that Trump’s supporters will abandon him as long as he keeps on performing his role as king of the Carnival of Deplorables — aided and abetted by the schoolmarm outrage of the official opposition — or that they even care that his administration’s policies are likely to harm them disproportionately There’s no way around it: This is a brilliant conjuring act If Baudrillard were still here to witness it he might describe it as a malevolent but magnificent work of art Lying to voters about whom you represent and what you’re going to do with power once you get it is so 20th century Luring working-class white voters with bogus culture-war politics so they will eagerly vote against their own “economic interests,” as the old saw puts it has been Republican electoral strategy since at least 1968 Trump has gone much further than that; further He piles them on top of each other in overwhelming profusion; he inhabits them for a while and then casts them away He creates an entire universe of lies and invites his listeners to live in it somewhat as Walt Disney’s theme parks were meant to create a pseudo-America more welcoming than the real thing impossible lies that no rational person could possibly accept is something like a stage magician’s conspiratorial wink to an audience that You know and I know that the entire enterprise of politics is fraudulent Trump told his MAGA-hatted minions (in effect); let’s prove it by perpetrating the biggest fraud of all He promised his followers a fantastic theme-park America that never was and could never be and all along they knew or suspected that nameless villains would prevent those fantasies from coming true But wasn’t it worth suffering some pain themselves to inflict symbolic revenge on those who believed themselves superior Wasn’t it worth the sacrifice of democracy and the disorienting descent into cynicism to prove to the sniggering coastal elites that America wasn’t the contented upward-trending multicultural meritocracy they thought it was Whether Trump’s powerful invocation of pseudo-reality was calculated or just instinctive it casts his relationship with Steve Bannon There’s no doubt Bannon played an important role in shaping the campaign message that Trump rode to victory (or at least pseudo-victory) in 2016 But the once and future Breitbart chair was all too eager to present himself to the press as the dark genius who engineered a charismatic TV nincompoop’s rise to power where do we find “ironworks” outside the movies they nonetheless bore some relationship to historical reality Bannon apparently suckered himself into believing that once he and Trump got power Trump correctly understood that none of that mattered: He didn’t care about ironworks or a 50-year Republican Reich or all the other boring bullshit that would be expensive and difficult and take a long time Much easier to send Bannon back to his lair to run his all-caps website and plot pointless primary challenges and let the bankers and lobbyists run things as usual Trump is an expert salesman who relies on truisms that are at least partly true: People like to be lied to and expect to be disappointed by the actual commodity was “the art of the deal,” not the third-rate craptastic buildings that sometimes resulted He has built his glorious vaporware presidency on a similar principle cascading lies that bewilder his foes and allow his fans to revel in their cynicism believing that at last they have gotten a peek behind the curtain and know how things really work Andrew O'Hehir is executive editor of Salon. Copyright © 2025 Salon.com, LLC. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. I bring this up because I have just read Young’s book, which is a strange, rambling, cramped, sometimes goofy, sometimes sentimental, and sometimes moving document. It consists mainly of talk about cars and advanced audio equipment, episodes of his childhood and life as a young man, a couple of medical emergencies, his working practices, and recollections of people he knew, some of whom he has outlived. Thelonious Monk said, The man is a genius who is most himself, and Young has exemplified the remark. His thinking is restricted and sheltered, however, and his writing is aimless. Should it have been otherwise? How could I know? I am reminded of E. B. White’s telling James Thurber that if he practiced his drawing and got good at it, he’d probably just be ordinary. Photograph by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns. If you've looked for advice on retouching in the last few years you've probably been recommended one of these preset and action systems at least once They're designed to give you beautiful film simulation and color tones to make your images look great using a single click of the mouse - and I hate them all I've certainly used VSCO and similar preset systems in the past Culling through 3000 wedding photos in Lightroom and editing 600 of them is no easy task and anything that can help simplify the process is a huge asset Using VSCO and other systems is a great way to speed up your process our addiction to these systems needs to be tamed VSCO is singled out on the title solely because it is easily the most popular preset system available for photographers Lightroom presets and 6 different packs of filters VSCO has turned the film emulation presets game into a science This article isn't designed to address VSCO solely but using them as a face for all filter systems available for photographers Perhaps my biggest issue with all of these presets is that it makes you into a cookie cutter photographer We all have access to these same algorithms it's easy to make your images look exactly like everyone else Consistency is good when you're presenting your work and preset systems will provide you with a very consistent style and look And I hate the "We'll fix it in post" mentality I like to think that my skills as a photographer come from my skills with a camera a lot of my personal style of work comes from retouching It's a process that takes a lot of time (sometimes more than shooting does) and allows me to tweak and colors or  contrast that is identified with my work using one click presets is a lot like shooting in Auto you'll get a lot of great photos out of it Perhaps my distaste for preset systems comes from my own stubbornness more than anything One thing I learned a long time ago is that there is no such thing a shortcuts If you want to be successful - in anything you do - you're going to have to work for it And you're going to have to work at it more than the next guy All of my retouching techniques were learned because I wanted to become better and show off photographs that others weren't able to create I can look at a photo with a specific toning to it This skill wasn't learned through clicking a series of actions or presets until I found one that looked right and then trashing it all to approach it with something new The easiest solution to separating yourself from these preset systems is to learn the functions within Lightroom and Photoshop Certainly the tools within Lightroom and Photoshop are expansive and you could spend a lifetime learning all the hidden tools within the system you'll have a better understanding on how to approach your images and grow considerably with your own photography Acclaimed author Malcolm Gladwell once said that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything This statement has been largely regarded as a wise way of looking at things so why not burn through a few of those hours in Photoshop Solely using presets within your workflow is not going to make you better at retouching and while you're pressing that easy button others are getting a head start on their 10,000 hours The only way to really grow in your skills is to challenge yourself The greatest downfall with Photoshop comes in how completely immense and overwhelming it is the possibilities within Photoshop are endless so finding your footing sometimes feels impossible Here are a few tutorials that can get your started on finding the incredible power of Photoshop I own many of the VSCO packs and other preset systems I will have photos to retouch and I am still without a clear concept or color palette to use for retouching Presets are a great way to quickly click through to find color grading that works well on the image inspiration for my work that's being done in Photoshop Zach Sutton is an award-winning and internationally published commercial and headshot photographer based out of Los Angeles His work highlights environmental portraiture blending landscapes and scenes with portrait photography Zach writes for various publications on the topic of photography and retouching whether they be pre made or ones you made yourself are a great starting point for a lot of people is if something is saving me time taking a few steps out of the process why not My issue with that is that your foundation is always the same you might be changing up different things with each photo but you're still using the preset as the spine behind your work Certainly I'm not going to retouch a wedding like I would a fashion editorial...which is why I hate going into anything with a preset You are also dealing with a foundation that is always the same in the form of the brand camera and model version that you are using The same goes for your initial RAW conversions and especially so with those RAW converters that make hidden changes to your images that you can not zero out or undo So it is wrong for a film shooter to prefer a particular stock you're starting with a spine by picking a certain sensor which is a great way to get you out of the default adobe/nikon/canon colourspace AND a great way to keep a consistent look throughout a set You're implying one doesn't personalize the presets for a look that fits your vision Myself and many of the photographers I'm friends with use presets like VscoFilm but manipulate them to become their own I found the Vsco versions of your shots above more intriguing and with more depth of character than the other versions Using VSCO has nothing to do with "saving time" it has to do with being lazy and not learning your craft It really depends on which kind of work it is I basically use presets in LR when I do weddings Of course I prefer to do manually when I work in fashion or I shoot a good amount of weddings and haven't ever resorted to using vsco but the fact that I created these images and edited them on my own is a heck of a lot more rewarding Saying that it has to do with being lazy and not learning your craft is a bit of a generalization in my opinion though I bought it because at the time I did not feel confident in crafting a good black and white conversion I was able to dissect the layers and effects of it It allowed me to start crafting my own conversions from scratch by giving me a better understanding of a certain process I don't even like the look of that preset anymore but still without it I wouldn't have started trying to craft my own conversions Presets and actions can be used as learning tools and I think this is something too often overlooked by many who are against using them I have to say that I don't use VSco but other presets With this I mean that I don't do wedding JUST adding a preset and bom I check every single photo and on each I correct exposures When necessary (or simply when I want something very particular) I use PS too (remove people/object that "ruins the scene" doing some dodging and burn on portraits....) Your comment actually proves that you know nothing You realize that presets can not only give you a great base to start with How is working smart / efficiently make someone lazy and not know their craft those who can do these things and save themselves time are indeed those who have mastered their craft I'm confused as to how VSCO and presets are different Achieving the look of VSCO isn't too difficult if you take the time but convenience / time saving tools are more valuable to me then making 150 unique presets You also get the added benefit of true custom camera profiles and editing different film stocks to figure out how certain color spaces work with certain stocks but that's an epic waste of time and if i was doing that I'd sell my creations too You sound A) Arrogant and B) like you have no idea what you're talking about A preset you can make on your own with your own knowledge and skill to conveniently edit quicker Yet I do know very well what I am talking about because I don't need VSCO to edit my photos it has to do with enjoying well done film emulation Maybe you don't understand their ambitions Or maybe you just think you're god's gift to photography Or maybe I just have more respect for those who learn their craft you SHOULD have the understanding that its not just a click and move on.. at least for the ones who are using it right its a basic group of settings pre made ( youve got that part right ) but its edited to all hell and tweaked rarely do i EVER just click a button and move on... its tonal curves tweaked on every level the way you need it its removing or adding the grain thats thrown on there and thinking its just a click to move on is but ignorance and if youre complaining about this you might as well complain about every other preset system as well as photoshop actions...sure if FEELS good to do things from scratch i as well shoot weddings and like all of us have to process a lot of images...its not being lazy its being smart I can edit 1000+ images in literally 1/8th the time of "from-scratch" editing making everything perfect through layers and the whole nine yards.. and seeing that the general public LOVESSS the replication of old style films i have seen VSCO user photographers highly sought after in the game im a photographer who enjoys to spend most his time shooting because thats what its all about..making the moments when the first DSLR nikon D1 came out in '99...all i heard was... they dont take the time to do this or that I have yet to use any kind of preset or action or anything really I'll be the first to admit my retouching is dog-s**t slow but I like to really give each retouch the fresh start and clear palette it deserves I think some presets might offer some neat starting points or even ideas but I have yet to see a preset that does better than what folks are doing manually with their retouching I think it all depends on how you go about using the presets I have seen many photographers just throw the filter on the photo and thats all they do as far as editing I think that is just flat out lazy but I also have seen many photographers use a vsco filter go in and change the filters preset settings and then go into photoshop and do a retouch and fix and tonal issues that the photo may still have I think that is the proper use of the filters but the problem is people that use them how Sean said I've taken a lot of my favorite VSCO presets and turned them into my own presets by changing a few things (contrast I think it's definitely lazy to just apply the stock presets and call it a day but different strokes for different folks If people like VSCO style preset packs them go nuts VSCO certainly works hard to emulate film stock and their success is well deserved but we all understand that professionals aren't just clicking a preset and walking away from editing so whats to complain about it would be something else that irks other photographers It certainly sounds hip to bash VSCO lately It's ironic that those who bash VSCO users and brand them as hipsters and this and that are actually the real hipsters trying to be "cool and unique" and break from the norm Send these clowns back to their over-retouched cheesy images I'm doing just fine and my clients love what they receive I wonder what this guy does when he shoots film (lol or does he create his own film altogether because Portra 400 is too popular how does Fstoppers allow these sort of people to create content for them Hire people with writing backgrounds please I feel the same way about presents as I do about actions in photoshop I have no problem using actions or presets that I have created as a general starting point to allow me to save time in my workflow or create images that have a consistent look however simply using presets (or actions) created by someone else with no knowledge of how to get there will only hurt you in the end especially those who make heavy use of preset/quick fix programs will argue that it is the end result that matters Both professionals and amateurs alike can create amazing images and even get paid (sometimes well) to do so but what separates them is that the professional will be able to create them consistently while an amateur will be lost of their one way of doing something does not work This is why it is important to know the fundamentals that make the presets possible I do often use preset programs and the basic adjustments they allow when editing personal iPhone images as a way to get a more interesting look than the sooc phone images I believe it all comes down to personal taste VSCO presets allow photographers to emulate film looks and recreate a retro feel in their images love the simplicity and retro look of these filters there is a problem when these presets are used in a photo - and that's it People will not learn how to truly master their craft if they use presets and nothing more on their part I have taken a handful of the VSCO presets There is nothing wrong with using presets as long as more is done on the photographer's part in post I do not believe your photos above do the presets justice you only applied the preset with a few minor adjustments etc.) can be done in the photos with the presets applied as well that does not render it useless for further photoshop work Isn't one of the products you guys sell the SLR Lounge Preset System I would suggest adding a "Opinion Piece or OpEd" to the title It's marked as an Opinion piece at the bottom we're encouraged to speak our mind on the posts regardless of what affiliation the website has with products a counterpoint posted from a different writer on the same topic Sing the praises of presets and you're just a shill so we should expect an article on how crappy the Fstopper Presets are soon enough then Only then will you retain any sort of credibility Not sure I would consider the SLR Lounge Preset System a 'Simple Preset' system in the same vein as these other ones noted If you use the SLRL system as it is meant to be used most of them are just shortcuts to slider moves to make the process of getting your image where you want to to be faster They even state themselves in their tutorial videos that VSCO is merely a starting point and truly an more in depth editing tool that is meant to be used beyond a simple click I agree completely with your concluding paragraph as that's all I've really found Preset systems useful for I'll use them for quick previews of varying color palettes and differences in exposure to get a sneak peak of some visual options I may not have originally thought of After deciding on the overall look of the image I will retouch it within Photoshop to achieve the effects I want with quality in mind I feel that some social media platforms favor a less polished presentation from time to time so I'll often use Presets when posting behind-the-scenes shots or scouting images on Instagram or Tumblr I generally drag a bunch of sliders in LR to do a "mock-up" of where the picture can go to see if it is worth retouching at all then I'll go into PS and do all the heavy lifting with refinement in mind I use presets all the time as a starting point for video but not for photos I do however have several preset packs to emulate film for photos I used them and picked them apart in lightroom by tool to see how they effected my image and they were a great way to learn how to achieve certain looks but I dont use them as often now For video though I still use Film Convert Pro as a starting point to color correct my footage Then I'll go in and grade all by hand if time permits with other tools I think presets are properly used when the goal is inspiration rather than end result In just a few seconds you can flip through several presets that take the image in completely different directions Then you can go back to the original image and manually build to that end (the end being your inspiration...not trying to recreate the filter) presets will motivate you to learn the "why and how" rather than be consumed with "how can I spend as little time as possible on these." What about for wedding photographers who have to edit hundreds of photos Is that any excuse for not forming your own style Why do you assume when I say presets I'm referring to VSCO presets I create my own presets (hence my own style) and use them through editing wedding photos Aint no way I'm taking hundreds of photos into Photoshop but going at presets as a whole seems iffy the article is about VSCO and you didn't specify. VSCO is singled out on the title solely because it is easily the most popular preset system available for photographers." It is about preset systems in general that encourage a cookie-cutter mentality I use a couple of VSCO presets as the basis for most of my editing in LR Could I learn the science behind what they are adjusting and how to emulate that myself Could my photography skills be better served by learning other core skills such as lighting and composition first rather than spending more hours in front of my computer Personally I'm not a fan of the hipster/arty/faded -blacks etc look that a lot of the preset systems encourage My untrained eye isn't good enough to tell the difference between something that was created with a single button push and the same look created using hours of PS...and I doubt that any of my clients would either...so unless I want to be some kind of purist I don't see why I would spend that time to get the base look for an image People who are all about doing things manually and knowing the science behind every slider and filter and adjustment in PS clearly have other priorities in life than I do I don't know anyone that uses presets right out of the box Presets are a starting point dude and probably very similar to what you do anyway I don't really understand the point of this opinion piece I don't think any professional photographer just uses a preset and calls it a day VSCO is used for fun with quick snapshots not client work so what's the point of writing this seems like its intended to just start arguments I do like the links you added for how to improve in your photoshop skills its a nice set of tools I often see "professional" photographers with no real knowledge of post processing (or even basics as simple as how aperture etc work together to effect an image) simply taking a shot applying a LR/VSCO/DXO/Sliver Efex etc preset to get the look they want throwing it through alien skin/portrait pro or similar to "retouch" the skin They may not be landing "big name" clients (some might be) but they are often making a living at photography and posting images all over the internet and having people tell them how great their work is I have even seen writers (Im not naming names) on various websites teaching their "tips and tricks" which really only amount to ways to make up for lack of technical knowledge and skill My point here (and I think the point of the article) is that with the tools available ANYONE can make a picture look good and ANYONE can start charging money for their services but where the difference lies is in knowledge of the craft While many argue that it is the end result and not the process that matters the truth is that if you rely on presets/actions you did not create yourself your lack of skill/knowledge will eventually be exposed and your work will plateau until you decide to learn how to actually shoot and retouch if clients keep paying these photographers and that is where I think the danger in presets lies I did give this a TU and agree...to an extent I'm playing devil's advocate here so hear me out.. or a modern (digital) camera that allows you to chimp images as you go There are so many aspects of photography these days that help to make creating better quality photos easy If you have a good camera and a good lens or two and shoot in nice conditions odds are that anyone can produce some nice photos once in a while I fully agree that it seems far too easy these days for anyone to pick up a camera take a ton of photos of some pretty friend(s) put them on Facebrag and get a ton of accolades and suddenly they are running a photography business and getting paying clients The next step is either they actually learn some stuff and get consistent (improving) results or they keep up with the spray and pray approach (often label themselves as a natural light photographer and get some nice shots to deliver to clients that are happy to take a risk or don't know the photographers real skill level If a preset helps me to achieve that as a final result or starting point I have no desire to spend more time than is necessary in the archaic and poorly designed Photoshop designed to be more complicated and difficult to use than was ever necessary Doing so helped to justify a traditionally expensive price tag when it was not subscription software and to create long term dependencies on it As for trying to make my digital images look like film and to this day I am still scanning old film and that's with 4000 dpi scans on a dedicated film scanner it is mostly due to the nostalgia of things that were photographed I advise simply shooting at very high ISOs if you want to get most of the grainy look of film it is mostly the young hipsters interested in film in any way the client is always one of the final judges In case you were living underneath a rock with the insulindian phasmid, a whole bunch of new projects and studios that involve developers who worked on Disco Elysium and look like they could well appeal to people who liked Disco Elysium were announced last week the last one that of these things that popped up like an outbusts from Harry Du Bois' psyche might be the most looks like it might be the most Disco of them all - even coming with its own manifesto Coming after the announcements from new indie studios Longdue and Dark Math Games both of which feature some ex-DE devs working on things that look like they could fit the bill of being spiritual successors of sorts to Harry and Kim's adventure its creators sum it up thusly: "We must be living at the dawn of a cultural Golden Age when like mushrooms after rain the companies promising 'the next Disco Elysium' are popping up every hour on the hour It’s a sure sign that the 5th anniversary of the release of this monumental game is approaching and every corporation wants a piece of the fortune often forgotten in this money lust are the creatives themselves first instrumentalized for press releases and afterwards underpaid the players – who should be holding control over the means of our creation and who should be celebrated on this day we announce today our own vision of a worker-owned co-operative a complex structure that will ensure that not only moneylenders but every worker "The studio’s task is to gather authors designers who previously worked together on “Disco Elysium” all of us who have yearned to work together on something completely fresh and original and create a liberating space for us and other veteran RPG developers to finally collectively start innovating again in this game space." "I believe that the last time around we made something genre-breaking Something completely new," Tuulik wrote in the dev diary experience forged — for five f**king years I've been waiting to put them to use So we went back to the drawing board with one goal in mind — let's do it fresh from the start but this time let's not f**k each other the moment the checkered flag drops It makes the entire mankind look bad.” this definitely looks like another thing worth keeping an eye on Here's hoping it and those other projects can help quench Disco fans' thirst for more cool RPGs No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission VG247 is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited Republicans are waging a war on children and families. Here is just a smattering of policy choices that are quite literally killing, endangering, and isolating our children, our families, women, and the LGBT community, proposed by Republicans across the nation: Taking away reproductive health care choices to the point it is endangering women's lives Introducing the death penalty for abortion and communication of middle and high school girls Putting a bounty on the heads of anyone who helps someone seek reproductive care Threatening to separate trans children from loving Banning mifepristone and care options used in a range of family planning processes Unleashing an endless supply of firearms into society and schools to kill our children Underneath these policies is an entire apparatus built by ultra right-wing conservatives to suppress your vote and keep you chained to employment to meet your basic needs That keeps you from not only electing different candidates but having the time and resources to run for office yourself And that's especially egregious because it's how we fix the situation I started in the Vermont Legislature when I was 22 years old becoming only the second woman of color in history to serve I've achieved many milestones with the support and encouragement of my colleagues and so many Vermonters My legislative work has always put children and families first starting a family was something I put on the back-burner for myself 14 years after beginning my journey as a legislator, becoming the first woman of color to serve in the State Senate and the Chair of the Economic Development & Housing Committee I am the first pregnant legislator in nearly two decades to serve in Vermont My due date was supposed to coincide with the last week of the legislative session with speculation running rampant about the dramatic and memorable ways this all could shake out and labor bills yesterday from the University of Vermont Medical Center it becomes the beginning of a trend toward seeing far more young women in office able to balance meaningful life choices with sharing their valuable lived experiences in the policy realm I don't want people to recall in another 20 years the last time someone was pregnant during the legislative session as a novelty These are lived experiences that most men in office will never fully understand they are the ones most likely to serve in office the last major study on young people in elected office conducted by the Eagleton Institute of Politics found that just 5 percent of people who serve are under the age of 35 less than a quarter are women; most are white men Those under the age of 35 in office are the most likely to make it to statewide office and Washington And guess who they like to make the most laws about Women under 35 and their bodies and economic well-being the pandemic revealed to us how many families are hanging on by a thread who fit the demographic of those most likely to make close to minimum wage and struggle with child care and housing These are the issues that fall off our agenda when things get hard those are the people whose voices are not loud enough for us to hear over special interests And their struggles will only increase with laws and policies that make it harder for them to plan their families and ensure the safety and well-being of their children of course my biggest goal is to deliver a healthy baby girl But if I am wheeled out while fighting for the issues that matter most to our children and families And then I'll come back next session and do it all over again Kesha Ram Hinsdale is a Vermont State Senator the first woman of color ever to serve in this role She has served in the Vermont legislature for a decade and is now running for Vermont's open At-Large Congressional seat The views in this article are the writer's own Florida and Jared Bridgman both sent this clip in at the same time Ed Welch published a book called Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave It is the sentence from an article that he wrote in preparation for that book There is a mean streak to authentic self-control not only do we nurture an exuberance for Jesus Christ we also demand of ourselves a hatred for sin The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war.” I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their shortcomings — and I see so little war There is something about war that sharpens the senses You hear a twig snap or the rustling of leaves and you are in attack mode Someone coughs and you are ready to pull the trigger Now let’s very carefully ask: violence against whom or what Not wives or husbands or children or ornery bosses — but on every impulse in our soul to be violent to other people — violence a mean streak in Christianity against our own selves and all in us that would make peace with sin and a settling in peacetime mindset It is a violence against all lust in ourselves It is a violence against all racism in our souls all sluggish indifference to injustice in our souls a violence against indifference to poverty and indifference to abortion in our souls Did you know that in the warfare of Romans We tend to think of spiritual warfare as this little thing where you find some way to pray or some way to lay hands on or some way to do a Satan thing “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) because the only foothold Satan has in your life is your flesh and your sin Much more important than fighting Satan is fighting sin This warfare in Romans 8:13 is vastly more important than figuring Satan out fame-loving John Piper is my biggest enemy and he is the only reason I will go to hell I really care about us learning how to do this battle live-at-peace-with-the-world-the-way-it-is religion like most Christians live their daily lives The phrase in Romans 8:13 is if by the Spirit you kill There is a mean streak in Christianity and it is not against anybody else but ourselves it is against the meanness of ourselves against other people If you feel like you are a mean person against others You haven’t learned to get violent against your violence