Ratfucking
''Ratfucking'' is an American slang term for behind the scenes (covert) political sabotage or dirty tricks, particularly pertaining to elections. It was brought to public attention by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in ''All the President's Men'' (1974), the book that chronicled their investigative reporting of the Watergate scandal. Origins As a term, ''ratfucking'' was commonplace in Southern California and possibly other college slang from the late 1950s to at least the early 1960s, meaning a prank. Around that time, Tony Auth was the cartoonist for the ''Daily Bruin''. One of his cartoons showed a large, inebriated rat suggesting to another rat, "Let's go PF-ing tonight!", a play on ratfucking or "RF-ing". The lead story in the January 6, 1961, ''California Tech'', Caltech's student newspaper, was headlined, "Tech Scores First Televised RF". The article chronicled the Great Rose Bowl Hoax, which had just taken place. A political context was irrelevant to such usage. At the e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Donald Segretti
Donald Henry Segretti (born September 17, 1941, in San Marino, California) is an attorney best known for working as a political operative with then-U.S. President Richard Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President during the early 1970s. Segretti served four and a half months in prison after investigations related to the Watergate scandal revealed his leading role in extensive political sabotage efforts (" ratfucking") against the Democrats. Early life He holds a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Southern California (1963) and a Juris Doctor from UC Berkeley School of Law (1966). While at USC, he was a member of the Trojan Knights and initiated into Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He also was a member of Trojans for Representative Government with future Watergate scandal participants Dwight L. Chapin, Tim Elbourne, Gordon C. Strachan, Herbert Porter, and Ron Ziegler. Watergate Segretti was hired by his friend Dwight L. Chapin to run a campaign of dirty ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics. Etymology of the word ''slang'' In its earliest attested use (1756), the word ''slang'' referred to the vocabulary of "low" or "disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to usages below the level of standard educated speech. In Scots dialect it meant "talk, chat, gossip", as used by Aberdeen poet William Scott in 1832: "The slang gaed on aboot their war'ly care." In northern English dialect it me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Theta Nu Epsilon
Theta Nu Epsilon (, commonly known as T.N.E.) was an American sophomore class collegiate society that later became a traditional social fraternity. Founded at Wesleyan University in 1870 as a chapter of Skull and Bones, the society expanded into a new national organization. It accepted members regardless of their fraternity status."Theta Nu Epsilon Society to Hold Convention Here" ''The New York Times'', March 16, 1913 It was a member of the National Interfraternity Conference (NIC). Through various controversies, most chapters of the society went inactive by 1920. It reformed as a social fraternity in 1925 and regained its membership in the NIC. It did not survive World War II, and the society's last official chapter closed in 1942. However, several chapters continued to operated sub rosa. History Early history Theta Nu Epsilon was founded on December 11, 1870, in Room Seven of Wesleyan’s South College by members of Alpha Delta Phi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Eclectic and Psi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security. The FCC was established pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the previous Federal Radio Commission. The FCC took over wire communication regulation from the Interstate Commerce Commission. The FCC's mandated jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States. The FCC also provides varied degrees of cooperation, oversight, and leadership for similar communications bodies in other countries in North America. The FCC is funded entirely by regulatory fees. It has an estimated fiscal-2022 budg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Marcy Wheeler
Marcy Wheeler, long known by the handle "emptywheel", is an American independent journalist specializing in national security and civil liberties. Wheeler publishes on her own site, ''Emptywheel'', established in July 2011. She has reported on '' United States v. Libby'' (the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby) and the investigation of President Donald Trump's connections to Russia, among other national security matters. Early life Wheeler grew up with parents who worked for IBM. Wheeler graduated with a BA from Amherst College in 1990. With an interest in the way businesses use language, Wheeler spent the next five years in corporate consulting, specifically teaching employees to compose large documents. She moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan from her native New York City for graduate school in 1995. Quoted by "skippy""empty wheel in the dead trees media" January 22, 2007, accessed May 26, 2007. In 2000, she earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Michigan, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Roger Stone
Roger Jason Stone (born Roger Joseph Stone Jr.; August 27, 1952) is an American Political consulting, political consultant and lobbyist. He is Donald Trump's longest-serving political adviser, best known for the Mueller special counsel investigation and his alleged involvement with and connections to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election as a consultant for the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, Trump campaign. Since the 1970s, Stone has worked on Republican campaigns, including those of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and Trump. He co-founded a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort and Charles R. Black Jr. The firm became Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly (BMSK) in 1984. BMSK became a top Lobbying in the United States, lobbying firm, leveraging White House connections for high-paying clients, including U.S. corporations, trade associations, and foreign governments ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Rolling Stone (magazine)
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover, and was then published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. The magazine experienced a ra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Euphemism
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to mask profanity or refer to Dysphemism#Taboo terms, topics some consider Word taboo, taboo such as mental or physical disability, sexual intercourse, bodily excretions, pain, violence, illness, or death in a polite way. Etymology ''Euphemism'' comes from the Greek language, Greek word () which refers to the use of 'words of good omen'; it is a compound of (), meaning 'good, well', and (), meaning 'prophetic speech; rumour, talk'. ''Eupheme (deity), Eupheme'' is a reference to the female Greek spirit of words of praise and positivity, etc. The term ''euphemism'' itself was used as a euphemism by the ancient Greeks; with the meaning "to keep a holy silence" (speaking well by not speaking at ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. Born into a wealthy family in the New York City borough of Queens, Trump graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He became the president of his family's real estate business in 1971, renamed it the Trump Organization, and began acquiring and building skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He launched side ventures, many licensing the Trump name, and filed for six business bankruptcies in the 1990s and 2000s. From 2004 to 2015, he hosted the reality television show ''The Apprentice (American TV series), The Apprentice'', bolstering his fame as a billionaire. Presenting himself as a political outsider, Trump won the 2016 United States presidential e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Ted Cruz
Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008. After graduating from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Cruz pursued a career in politics, eventually serving as a policy advisor in the George W. Bush administration. In 2003, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appointed Cruz to serve as Solicitor General, a position he held until 2008. Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, becoming the first Hispanic American to serve as a U.S. senator from Texas. In the Senate, he has taken consistently conservative positions on economic and social policy. He played a leading role in the 2013 federal government shutdown, seeking to force Congress and President Barack Obama to defund the Affordable Care Act. Cruz was reelected in a close race in 2018 against Democra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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2016 Republican Party Presidential Primaries
Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that were sent to the Republican National Convention. Businessman and reality television personality Donald Trump won the Republican nomination for president of the United States. A total of 17 major candidates entered the race. Prior to the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, this was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history. From early in the primary season, the race was characterized as a wide and diverse contest with no clear frontrunner. Early polling leaders included former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, among others. The race was disrupted by the entry of Trump in June 2015, who quickly and unexpectedly rose to lead polls for the rest of the primary seaso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 5th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP 5) to the Kyoto Protocol. According to the Bali Road Map, a framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 was to be agreed there. On Friday 18 December, the final day of the conference, international media reported that the climate talks were "in disarray". Media also reported that in lieu of a summit collapse, only a "weak political statement" was anticipated at the conclusion of the conference. The Copenhagen Accord was drafted by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa on 18 December, and judged a "meaningful agreement" by the United Stat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |