July 2021 – CHALLACON

Big Five: Conscientiousness a Strong Predictor of Academic Performance

Mammadov’s (2021) metaanalysis on the Big Five personality traits and academic performance is an interesting read. He concludes by linking conscientiousness as explaining a good portion of academic performance variance.

For background, the Big Five or the Five Factor Model (FFM) is a personality theory proposed made popular by Costa and McCrae (1999). The FFM has, big surprise, five dimensions: Openness to New Experiences; Conscientiousness; Extraversion; Agreeableness; and, Neuroticism (or, positively, Emotional Stability). People high in conscientiousness are those that prepare or plan well. They can become workaholics or be seen as deliberate.

Given this definition, it would make sense to see why higher conscientiousness would be linked to academic performance. I certainly know when I plan, I do better (or at least it feels this way).

Interestingly, in my research on law enforcement personal differences, I found conscientiousness had the highest mean among the FFM. This could indicate that law enforcement officers like to be planners.

FBI: 40 Active Shooter Incidents in 2020

Based on the FBI’s reporting and as of May 2021, there were 40 active shooter incidents in 2020. This was up from 30 recorded in 2019. This is incredible, especially given the COVID lockdowns.

Read the report here: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=855806

COVID Bleach “Remedy” Was a Sacrament

In an interesting piece, Thomas Buckley of Bloomberg Business Week describes the Genesis II Church of Health and Healing in Florida. This was the home to Mark Grenon and family, better known as the individuals who were selling a snake-oil “cure” for COVID — the Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS).

Grenon employed sovereign logic to describe how they can sell this stuff. They described MMS as part of their religious sacrament, and he used the logic of youth being served wine during a Catholic Church communion.

This is an interesting read.

West Point CTC Reviews the Proud Boys

As I am involved in research on the January 6th U.S. Capitol insurrection, I have run across several indicted individuals involved in the Proud Boys (or PB). The PB is a group with extremist ideology.

The Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point recently put out a study on PB. It is worth a read here: Pride & Prejudice: The Violent Evolution of the Proud Boys.

ICYMI: Ammon Bundy was Convicted by a Jury of his Peers

Ammon Bundy–the Idaho anti-government actor– was convicted a week ago by a jury of his peers. He was convicted for occupying the Idaho Statehouse in August 2020. If you will recall, he led a group of maskless protestors upset over the stay-at-home orders.

The Bundy family is an interesting group. Cliven Bundy, Ammon’s father and a cattle rancher, was involved in a 2014 standoff with federal officers. Among those who showed up at this standoff were Jared and Amanda Miller, who later that year targeted and killed law enforcement in one of the first pre-planned sovereign citizen attacks.