Fisher has more from capitol hill you can see Dianne Feinstein is leading the Battle Ground that they are going to attack this idea of the nomination on the basis that it could well jeopardize the Affordable Health care act shes making the point that the Supreme Court on november the 10th will hear a case which is called texas against california which is about a protecting preexisting conditions she says that if there is a conservative majority on the court particularly with someone like amy whos expressed concern about the Affordable Health care act or obamacare as it became widely known then that thing is at risk and shes hoping that that might play into Public Opinion outside the chamber. Russias foreign minister has indicated that turkey will not be involved in peace talks over the disputed region of the gorno care about azerbaijan has proposed its ally turkey be involved in discussions armenia and azerbaijan are accusing each other of violating a humanitarian ceasefire funerals have been held in the azerbaijani villages some care for the victims of sundays attacks on ganja at least 9 people were killed and 34 others wounded by shelling in the early hours of the morning hundreds have been killed across the region since fighting flared at the end of last one an undercover investigation by al jazeera has exposed high ranking officials in cyprus expressing a willingness to aid convicted criminals to an e. U. Citizenship in august the Investigative Unit released the cyprus papers which revealed serious flaws in the countrys citizen by Investment Program the number of natural disasters around the world have nearly doubled in the last 2 decades thats according to the u. N. Floods and storms account for around 80 percent of the increases the u. N. Says leaders are failing to stop the world from becoming and in habitable. Well have more news at the top of the hour for now its inside story thanks for watching. The cuban Conspiracy Theory is all about the u. S. Government supposedly pitting donald trump against the socalled deep state so why is it suddenly spreading in europe and particularly in germany this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program. Its theories have been repeatedly debunked at the Conspiracy Movement known as q and on continues to thrive what began in the u. S. 3 years ago is now growing rapidly in other parts of the world surprisingly some of the fastest growth is in non English Speaking countries such as germany and the coronavirus pandemic appears to be one of the things pushing this growth so what exactly is q one and how did it start q one on says president dont trump is saving the world from an elite cult of satan worshipping pedophiles made up of democratic politicians billionaires and hollywood celebrities supporters spread a wide range of unfounded conspiracy theories and anti semitic beliefs to predict what they call a great awakening thats when a wider audience will supposedly embrace their theories leading to a storm when the alleged child abusers face justice q and on started in the us in october 2017 with an anonymous post on the 4 chan platform the user calls him or herself cue a reference to the high level u. S. Security clearance he supposedly holds. Q. And ons roots lie in pizza gate a 2016 Conspiracy Theory that alleged leading Democratic Party politicians were running a child sex ring from a pizza shop in washington d. C. All right lets bring in our guests in brussels sergey like in ski as a member of the European Parliament where he is part of the alliance 90 group also in berlin caroline sender shes a visiting researcher at the whites and mom institute and a fellow at Harvards Kennedy school of government and in athens brook nair hes a political analyst and a professor at Stanford Universitys berlin campus welcome to the show circuit let me start with you you know cuban on has been described as at 1st a distinctly american phenomenon just how much has it spread beyond the u. S. And how big is the problem in europe right now well cuban on who it is it is part of a Larger Movement and europe and especially in europe and yet not a movement of conspiracy theories over all there is we just recently have a demonstration. Against it managers and a lot of those people d demonstrating there in front of the ground and the gate a very symbolic place. Where are those who at least sympathize. There is i wouldnt say that you are not as the leading experience in the area in germany we have many others we have the socalled ice the citizens of the right. Whereas right doesnt necessarily mean that not right those of the people who dont recognize the German Federal republic as a. Functioning country and who still say that our country is still occupied and we dont have a constitution for example which would be functioning so there is a and i dont of various shades of conspiracy theories who have come up now especially during the crisis but where there have been there before as well odrick to pick up on some of what sergei was describing a q and on is often described as a Conspiracy Theory but really its more of a why. Ranging network of conspiracy theories correct correct. I wouldnt give it too much weight and totally agree with that so he just said that its not one coherent phenomenon and i also dont think that it is the main one or something that is more powerful in germany i think what they do differently from a right wing populist movements that we saw picking up on the influx of mike rents in 2015 is that they dont need to put the situation but they exploit and play with peoples fears but they satisfy have general humko or have to tie in scandalising things or expressing anger or more with mobilizing a certain interest in something which is not just mainstream politics and you dont have thought always been around but now its possible to connect through the internet Work Together and from another place a split 2nd which is said in front of politically of prominent spots like the problem vulgate or the like stark of them that gets the public attention like we now give them public attention by discussing them on television caroline how is it the q. And on was able to jump as quickly and as dramatically from the Virtual World to the real world well i think as my esteemed panelists have highlighted some of this deals with fear so you know in and recently in august the atlantic covered how really influential influencers on instagram so mothers who are becoming social Media Influencer is uncertain using this platform and posting a lot of pastel hues things that we would see as much more like mainstream its that except have this sort of softness to them that theyve been using save the children hash tag hash tag as popular as also by cuban and so what cuban on is doing is really playing upon i would say very. Commonplace figures and there are this sort of nebulous network right of a bunch of different talking points one of those being Something Like save the children and save the children something that you know is a bit perhaps more palatable to certain members of varying populations right because its its its miss considering facts and building on conspiracy theories around human and child trafficking but its packaged in this way that sort of instills fear even in one could argue more like middle class or mainstream audiences because its dealing with things related to children so i think they are finding entry points into commonplace fears using that as a place to serve misconstrue and then create you know misinformation and this information within that sergey i saw you nodding quite a bit to what carolyn was saying there of did you want to add to the point she was making. Is this is were living in Interesting Times historically when there is this busy combination of irrationality. And disbelief and basically rejection of ill son to troops is but also theres this gave me with. Sexual and over sexualized d elites as they are trait by many but also in conjunction with the protection of children with caroline was saying and you know you dont have to be and a conspiracy theorist to to use and abuse stop it we saw those that many other areas in the world use you know look at what happened happening in russia where and you know it was against homosexuals the option of children where there is a trigger is a lot of. Kind of instincts and protective stings of masses and of human beings so i think that this gets and comes together in this weird theory and the question is of course why do people believe it you know what happens to human beings in situations of crisis uncertainty fear and historical moments like like were living through now and what have we done wrong so that those people you know are basically big timbs of their own fantasy. Alric people in germany who promote nazi propaganda can be jailed but when it comes to conspiracy theories theyre not really illegal unless they veer into hate speech so how tough does that fact make it for authorities in germany trying to fight q. And a well its not only that we have to look at it from the perspective of what exactly this theory or what you want to call it is it legal or not this is an open society that is strongly committed to freedom rights which also includes the freedom of speech and i would always fight for someone so right to express nonsense and as long as the nonsense doesnt hurt anyone or doesnt cross the line of becoming a criminal matter or like hate speech i would always support a society that allows us to express nonsense and i guess a lot of what people think there is not thought through and highly political but its an expression off i feel the same as others like what we just heard about of the moms who worry about the future of their job ren and its a general feeling of uneasiness with complexity but i also dont think that its a totally new phenomenon its just like Police Violence this is not a new situation in the u. S. The only new thing is not how it is filmed in the positive it wasnt filmed but it was still there when i was a student i learned from sociology professor x. That about a 3rd of germans are open 2 or 3 terry and thinking and now it becomes visual and it expresses itself in social media and chat rooms this is the new phenomenon but not the way youre thinking as such caroline one of the things that really propagated by q and on are these very well and. Anti semitic trope some of them bearing striking resemblance to and she semitic troops that are centuries old. Why do you think these these anti semitic troops are such a prominent part of q. And a thats such a question i think a lot of it does go back to. Fears and conspiracy spaces you know as you just pointed out that antisemitic tropes are centuries old and is a classic form of hate speech it is also one could say are arguably a bias that has withstood sadly centuries of thought i think its an easy sort of entry point but it is at least also as a in the us it is a lot of it is a basis in conspiracy theories and into like well known conspiracy theories so as you start to dive deeper into explorations sadly around the deep state there are conspiracy theories around jewish people with and that theyre theyre wrong but they are they are biased and theres one thing i would like to bring up sort of with and that as we talk about these sort of century old you know very awful beliefs that people are holding on to what made philips and ryan milner to authors and professors who talk about the medical church or. Theyve written about human on and one thing that theyve described as something that they call deep memetic frames and a diplomatic frame is a framework where someone believes almost in their bones that something is true it is an emotional belief it is something that logic cannot confront and i think when we are unpacking things like he went on or things like a deeper form of bias people are holding on to these magic frames and then they are finding content Information Online that reflects that way of thinking and that is that is what cuban and is effectively sergey in in which other countries are we seeing q and on start to take root and spread more well. Very typical to say you know im not your research or im not. Politician now and and i only see a lot of concern coming from my colleagues from other countries were here in the parliament you know sitting here in the European Parliament and. Chewing on another irrational theories and as they use are widespread and many countries and it becomes a political problem as soon as we have to face informational complains and conduct information companions about covert for example so we are now all talking here about there is a special committee which was out at the European Parliament on this information and it has it was a true political component d you know facing the intervention by. Countries like russia or turkey for that matter china but it also has this component and something that will reveal some action you know how do we balance out the freedom and liberty space in terms of you know letting people believe their nonsense on the one hand and on the other hand you know trying to prevent externalities to the society that result from that nonsense but can be potentially that we you know and we can look at that to the white house where you see some statements that go in bad direction but just generally i think it is important to understand and you know polling on what counts at this is. And i did research on and some of them when i was still a researcher and i think theres a similar time and i semitism that in very complicated times people are looking for very easy answers and try to kind of make sense out of things that dont make sense out there you know our world. So theres orienting so many and now that this structure and International Relations and democracies is kind of falling apart in many cases people are trying to explain what is happening and its always very easy to imagine a kind of a dark force that does control everything and where it gives sense and gives me to what is going on and can be you know people d of jewish origin or it can be people are like a like a sect you know like a. Cult. Being as to this so i think a lot of this has something to do with this complexity of the problems that theyre facing and with people longing for easy answers and trying to ascribe the problems to one source over you heard sergei there mention covert 1000 and misinformation and i want to ask you from your Vantage Point how much has the coronavirus pandemic been a catalyst for the growth of q. And on in Different Countries but it certainly helped to mobilize people who express their frustration the anger of the isolation and channel it in something which they are understanding is an alternative to mainstream that is confusing because if its based on science and then science shows that it is changes the position from one week to the next we have a very prominent scientist in germany with a lot of people who follow his way of thinking and this is never about and not always fall into truth but the truth is an ongoing search and that is where people find confusing and if someone else comes in they dont trust the elites dont trust scientists look at them they dont even know what they thought last week and how they think Something Else this is so much in flux and so confusing that someone who pretends to know better and ignore since did you. Dismantles the basis of what some talk to a critic systems of rather views that i speak on behalf of the people who dont need institutions of this is my understanding of the majority bastes democracy of them this is so much easier to follow and that its not about the content its more about that wish to believe that i understand the world better caroline last week facebook said that its going to ban groups that openly support q. And on but there have been efforts by facebook by twitter by other social media platforms in the past to try to get a handle on the situation that were not very effective so will this new initiative from your perspective make an impact or is it already too late i guess the answer is a complicated one because its a bit of yes and no it is a little late but i wouldnt argue that its too late the platforming different groups has shown to be extremely helpful especially if we look at if we go back in time about 4 years and look at the american right and some of the steps have been taken at least in the United States the platforming more well known neo nazis for example it definitely affects traffic there drives down traffic it makes it harder to have so in facebook and twitter and act these policies it makes it much more difficult for individual members to exist on what we call the clear net so like the more clear mainstream enter net. If groups are having to you know cloud flare and Internet Service provider if they are also delisting already platforming different information then these websites these areas they have to go into different spaces they have to potentially go on to tor and thats much harder to find its much more harder to organize so they platforming is always i think a great thing groups should engage and it is a little late i would say for facebook it will be interesting to see how. How will how they tackle or handle q one on posts and groups and languages that are not written in english so julian york of the s. F. Carli of witness and a bunch of and a lot of other really great researchers and Civil Society have pointed out that other languages often get neglected in these measures on major platforms so we will need to sort of see specifically in german and in other languages how this is applique how this content actually is being taken down i think what its something to watch is things that are not explicitly q. Went on but have the hallmarks of cumin on thoughts perhaps not using direct human on hashtags but engaging in topics and then across different languages are those then taken down ive noticed just from my purview arise in. You know very dangerous memes that are sort of conflating bill gates as someone as a perpetrator behind coded you know similar to what we saw with george soros a while ago but ive been seeing needs in croatian ive been seeing anti mask wearing names also in croatia and so itll be interesting to see and ive been seeing these things on instagram and facebook so it will be very interesting to see how this stance facebook had is if it is actually replicated at scale or enacted at scale across different languages especially for focusing you know right now on europe and the e. U. So thats something you know well just have to sadly wait and see how effective it is but generally these measures are more effective than not enacting them sergey hatefulness has been apparent in q. And on related posts long before now from your perspective do you think its taken you know Facebook Twitter other social media platforms to long to try to get a handle on this. You know on the proponent of a kind of a liberal democracy open society. I understand how difficult to do this to tackle a problem like that in this society which is free you know. Who what what sounds with those with dismay to start you know 2 to 2 to bear hunt on which i think is right with what the facebook was doing but we have plenty of other theories which are just as harmful i mean look at the i mean i think that the germany the much more prevalent. Conspiracy theory is the one describing to bill gates the powers of the dark force. You know there are people talking about you know him trying to trip. Human beings making you know women. Not not not getting children etc etc its leading to. A whole going to take you live to capitol hill where the confirmation hearing for Donald Trumps pick for the Supreme Court is speaking there she is thats amy coney barracking lets listen in and members of the committee im honored and humbled to appear before you today as a nominee for associate justice of the Supreme Court i thank the president for entrusting me with this profound responsibility as well as for the graciousness that he and the 1st lady have shown my family throughout this process i thank senator young for introducing me as he did at my hearing to serve on the 7th circuit and i also thank senator bron for his support and while she could not be with us via satellite i am also grateful to former dean patio hair of the notre dame law school. She hired me as a professor nearly 20 years ago and she has been a mentor colleague and friend ever since. I thank the members of this committee and your other colleagues in the senate who have taken the time to meet with me since my nomination its been a privilege to meet you. As. Im used to being in a group of 9 my family nothing is more important to me and i am very proud to have them behind me my husband justin i have been married for 21 years he has been a selfless and wonderful partner every step of the way i once asked my sister why do you think marriage is hard people are always saying that i think its easy and she looked at me and said well maybe you should ask just see if he agrees with that i decided not to take her advice and. Deny our parents just 7 wonderful children our oldest daughter emma is a sophomore in college who just might follow her parents into a career in the law next is vivian who came to us from hedy when vivian arrived she was so weak that we were told she might never talk or walk normally but now she deadlifts as much as the male athletes in our gym and i assure you she has no trouble talking tess is 16 and while she shares her parents love for the liberal arts she also has a math gene that seems to have skipped her parents generation john peter joined us shortly after the devastating earthquake in haiti and jesse who brought him home still describes the shop on j. P. S. Face when he got off the plane and wintertime chicago once that shop were off j. P. Assumed a happy go lucky attitude that is still his signature trait. Lamb is smart strong and kind and to our delight he still loves watching movies with mom and dad 10 year old juliet is already pursuing her goal of becoming an author by writing multiple essays and short stories one of which she recently submitted for publication and our youngest benjamin is at home with friends benjamin has down syndrome and he is the unanimous favorite of the family he was watching the hearing this morning i am told and he was calling out our names as he saw the kids in the back my own siblings are here some in the hearing room and some nearby carry meg and eileen Amanda Vivian and michael are my oldest and dearest friends weve seen each other through both the happy and hard parts of life and i am so grateful that they are with me now my parents mike and linda kone are watching from their new orleans home my father was a lawyer and my mother was a teacher which explains why i became a law professor more important my parents modeled for me and my 6 siblings a life of Service Principle faith and love i remember preparing for a grade School Spelling bee against a boy in my class and to boost my confidence my dad saying anything boys can do girls can do better and at least as i remember it i spoiled my way to victory i received similar encouragement from the devoted teachers at st marys dominik and my all Girls High School in new orleans when i went to college it never occurred to me that anyone would consider girls less capable than boys my freshman year i took a literature class filled with upper classman english majors and when i did my 1st presentation which was on breakfast at tiffanys i feared i had failed. But my professor took the time to talk to me she filled me with confidence about how well i had done and she became a mentor and when i graduated with a degree in english she gave me Truman Capote hes collected works as a gift of oh i considered graduate studies in english i decided that my passion for words was better suited to decipher ing statutes the novels i was fortunate to have wonderful legal mentors in particular the judges for whom i clerked the legendary judge Laurence Silberman of the d. C. Circuit gave me my 1st job in the law and he continues to teach me today he was by my side during my 7th circuit hearing he swore me in my investiture and hes cheering me on from his living room right now i also clerked for Justice Scalia and like many lost today i felt like i knew the justice before i ever met him because i had read so many of his colorful accessible opinions more than the style of his writing though it was the content of Justice Scalias reasoning that shaped me his judicial philosophy was straightforward. And the law as it is written not as she wishes it were sometimes that approach met reaching results that he did not like but as he put it and one of his best known opinions that is what it means to say that we have a government of laws and not of men