Will Black Lives Matter to the Police? African Americans’ Concerns about Trump’s Presidency

ABSTRACT

Based on a 2017 national survey of 1,000 Black Americans, perceptions regarding the implications of Donald Trump’s election as President on race relations, police-minority relations, and police treatment of Black citizens in the United States were examined. Findings suggest the existence of a “Trump Effect.” With minor variation across demographic groups, the survey respondents expressed overall negative perceptions concerning the effects of President Trump’s election. In particular, they expressed the belief that his presidency shows that the United States is a racist society, will strain police-minority relationships, and will create a climate in which African Americans are more likely to be arrested or subjected to police violence. At issue is not just African Americans’ distrust of President Trump but, importantly, whether his emphasis on “law and order” and dismissal of minority-group concerns attenuates the legitimacy of law enforcement in the eyes of African Americans.     

President or Predator? The Social Construction of Donald Trump in a Divided America

ABSTRACT

During the presidential election, numerous women accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment and/or assault. Then a presidential candidate, he denied these complaints and said the women were all untruthful – a position he has continued to espouse. To explore “who the public believes,” we commissioned YouGov to conduct an opt-in online survey of a national sample of 1,000 Americans. Notably, half of Americans (51.0%) believed that “the women are telling the truth when they reported that Mr. Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them” versus 23.1% who sided with the president. Nearly two-thirds (64.9%) stated that it was unlikely that all the women were lying, and 3 in 5 Americans (60.5%) supported President Trump’s impeachment by the U.S. Congress if these accusations could be proven. Informed by research on political psychology (especially Haidt’s The Righteous Mind), the data are explored to see why Americans embrace divergent moral narratives – with some seeing Mr. Trump as a truthful president and others seeing him as a predator unworthy of the office he holds.     

Identification of synthetic cannabinoids in herbal incense blends in the United States

Abstract: Synthetic cannabinoid agonists are chemically diverse with multiple analogs gaining popularity as drugs of abuse. We report on the use of thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography mass spectrometry, high‐performance liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry for the identification and quantitation of these pharmacologically active chemicals in street drug dosage forms. Using these approaches, we have identified the synthetic cannabinoids JWH‐018, JWH‐019, JWH‐073, JWH‐081, JWH‐200, JWH‐210, JWH‐250, CP47,497 (C=8) (cannabicyclohexanol), RCS‐4, RCS‐8, AM‐2201, and AM‐694 in various commercially available products. Other noncannabinoid drugs including mitragynine have also been detected. Typical concentrations of drug in the materials are in the range 5–20 mg/g, or 0.5–2% by weight for each compound, although many products contained more than one drug.     

Urban development in czecho-slovakia: some background conditions for local level public administration

Concepts and skills from the Public Administration field are in strong demand by local governments in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. After forty years in which local level initiatives in government and in business were squelched, there now exist extensive opportunities. After discussing the extent of past centralization, population trends and local public spending by city sizes are defined for the Czech Republic. A comparative analysis of a single Czech city with a German city of similar size points out some special limitations in land use employment and tax base facing local public policy makes. In conclusion, the need for attention to institution-building and for local area information as part of technical assistance efforts is discussed.     

Living with COVID-19: Subjective Well-Being in the Second Phase of the Pandemic

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - While there is ample evidence of the decline in mental health among youth during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, less is known about the determinants of...