(Trade)mark America Great Again: Should Political Slogans Be Able to Receive Trademark Protection?

In late 2016, Donald Trump was granted trademark protection for his presidential campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” This registration is one of few—if not the only—political slogans registered as a trademark with the USPTO. Four years later, and four years after the completion of the presidential campaign which effectuated the slogan, the MAGA registration is still live and President Trump and his campaign committee continue to sell merchandise featuring the slogan prominently. However, looking at the applications and the evidence presented therein, it is not clear that the MAGA slogan constitutes a phrase worthy of trademark protection. This Note examines whether the MAGA trademarks should have been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In Part I, the Note will look at the doctrinal issues specific to the MAGA applications, highlighting ways in which the registrations may be problematic. Part II discusses the broader issues these applications introduce, namely, the ever-present tension between political and commercial speech in trademark law, and whether political slogans should ever receive trademark protection based on the state of this debate. Lastly, in Part III, the Note examines how President Trump’s treatment of his slogan may be illustrative of a larger issue that has been controversial in the first half of the Trump presidency: emoluments. In essence, this Note considers how Donald Trump is breaking the mold in terms of how presidents navigate and distinguish between their business and their politics

The Art and Science of Political Deception: The Political Artist and Neurobiological Mecamisms Underlying Human Vulnerability

Many politicians are highly successful in diverting citizens’ attention from their legitimate interests, silencing the voice of constituents and undermining interests of voters who have elected them. They restrict voting to prevent non-existent fraud. They deny medical services to protect seldom-existent consumer-provider relationships. They allow tax increases on the working class while preserving loopholes for wealthy corporate sponsors. Yet the same politicians are reelected by popular demand.This thesis uncovers a primary mechanism that underlies human susceptibility for such manipulation. The handles for deception are embedded in ancient reflexes that favored survival. Contemporary worldviews embody such ancient intuitions now integrated with modern vocabulary and narratives. These reflexes are grounded in neural networks that respond rapidly to present-day cues triggering ancient signals of threat, contamination and loss. Using such cues, polemicists often divert citizens’ efforts away from personal concerns to buttress business and ideological objectives of their patrons. In this thesis, neuronal circuitry dedicated to assessing the personal relevance of incoming information is described. Conditions for informing the worldview as opposed to censoring disagreeable information are elucidated. Examples in recent political discourse are provided. Constituent attempts to resist the process of diversion and information censure are explored. Constitutional and social impediments to reprogramming worldview are discussed. Evidence of weakening entanglements within some contemporary narratives from ancient intuitions is presented

You have been friended by the U.S. military : using social networking services for IO messaging

Social Networking Services (SNS) have achieved a salience in today's society. Facebook has over 500 million active users worldwide. SNS has been used by companies to advertise and communicate with their customers. Politicians and government officials have created Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep in touch with constituents. They use these tools for campaigns, to gather feedback, and for strategic communications. The perceived effect of these tools to influence populations has prompted countries such as Iran and China to enact policies to limit access to these websites. The Department of Defense (DoD) is using some of these tools for public affairs and strategic communications, but the use of these tools for the purpose of planned influence operations has not been exploited. Currently, SNS are used extensively in the private business and political sector. Studying the private sector's use of SNS could yield some insights for the DoD and influence campaigns. The purpose of this study is to determine if U.S. Information Operations (IO) professionals should develop Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) for the use of SNS in order to conduct IO. This work will research the successful use of SNS by marketing and political campaign professionals in order to identify the best uses of SNS for the IO community within the DoD.http://archive.org/details/youhavebeenfrien109455006US Army (USA) authorsApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The Fact-Checking Universe in Spring 2012: An Overview

By almost any measure, the 2012 presidential race is shaping up to be the most fact-checked electoral contest in American history. Every new debate and campaign ad yields a blizzard of fact-checking from the new full-time fact-checkers, from traditional news outlets in print and broadcast, and from partisan political organizations of various stripes. And though fact-checking still peaks before elections it is now a year-round enterprise that challenges political claims beyond the campaign trail.This increasingly crowded and contentious landscape raises at least two fundamental questions. First, who counts as a legitimate fact-checker? The various kinds of fact-checking at work both inside and outside of journalism must be considered in light of their methods, their audiences, and their goals. And second, how effective are fact-checkers -- or how effective could they be -- in countering widespread misinformation in American political life? The success of the fact-checkers must be assessed in three related areas: changing people's minds, changing journalism, and changing the political conversation. Can fact-checking really stop a lie in its tracks? Can public figures be shamed into being more honest? Or has the damage been done by the time the fact-checkers intervene?This report reviews the shape of the fact-checking landscape today. It pays special attention to the divide between partisan and nonpartisan fact-checkers, and between fact-checking and conventional reporting. It then examines what we know and what we don't about the effectiveness of fact-checking, using the media footprint of various kinds of fact-checkers as an initial indicator of the influence these groups wield. Media analysis shows how political orientation limits fact-checkers' impact in public discourse

Revisiting the epistemology of fact-checking

Joseph E. Uscinski and Ryden W. Butler (2013) argue that fact-checking should be condemned to the dustbin of history because the methods fact-checkers use to select statements, consider evidence, and render judgment fail to stand up to the rigors of scientific inquiry and threaten to stifle political debate. However, the premises upon which they build their arguments are flawed. By sampling from multiple “fact-checking agencies” that do not practice fact-checking on a regular basis in a consistent manner, they perpetuate the selection effects they criticize and thus undermine their own position. Furthermore, not only do their arguments suffer from overgeneralization, they fail to offer empirical quantification to support some of their anecdotal criticisms. This rejoinder offers a study demonstrating a high level of consistency in fact-checking and argues that as long as unambiguous practices of deception continue, fact-checking has an important role to play in the United States and around the world

Constitutional Character: Virtues and Vices in Presidential Leadership

Presidents and presidential candidates should be assessed more than they usually are on the basis of what may be called constitutional character. This refers to the disposition to act, and motivate others to act, according to principles that constitute the democratic process. Its virtues and vices are distinct from personal or private morality. Constitutional character includes such qualities as sensitivity to basic rights, respect for due process in the broad sense, willingness to accept responsibility, tolerance of opposition, and most importantly a commitment to candor.Governmen