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Americans who love their country have something both frightening and reassuring to contemplate today, as the nation celebrates the 246th anniversary of its unlikely birth. Playing out before them in dramatic fashion is clear and credible evidence of both the fragility of our democracy and of the kind of steadfast courage that has rallied patriots for almost 2 centuries.

From the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to the hearings of the Jan. 6 House committee, Americans with open minds are being shown how the democracy won by the soldiers of 1776 can be swept away by an authoritarian who cares only for himself.

But they are also seeing the extraordinary determination of Americans who are in a position to stand up for the country and who then do it. Those individuals are risking their careers, their safety and, in some cases, their reputations, as former President Donald Trump attempts to smear them. Some, as the committee revealed last Tuesday, are telling their truth, despite intimidation by Trumps pack of wolves.

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Look at the courage of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Shes 26 years old and, last Tuesday, was the committees first live witness who was inside the West Wing on Jan. 6. She brought viewers of last Tuesdays hearing into the White House, to the edge of the insurrection and to its immediate aftermath.

She told the committee and the country that Trump knew the crowd at the Jan. 6 insurrection was armed before he sent it streaming to the Capitol, pumped up with lies about a stolen election. She heard Meadows tell White House Counsel Pat Cipollone that Trump agreed with protesters calling to hang Vice President Mike Pence, who had enraged the president by refusing to illegally block the certification of electors for Joe Biden.

She testified that she saw Trumps incendiary tweet attacking Pence at 2:24 p.m., in the midst of the riot. As a staffer that works always to represent the administration to the best of my ability to showcase the good things he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed ... I was really sad, she told the committee.

As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.

Thats a patriot. Imagine the pressures she set aside to do her duty, not as a Republican or a White House staffer or a defender of Trump, but as an American. Anyone paying attention to the committee has seen that kind of courage before from others who worked for, or were smeared by, the former president. They saw it in two Georgia poll workers whose lives were upended by Trump and his acolytes. Any of them maybe all of them could face new threats because they had the courage and the patriotism to tell the world what they know.

Thats what defending a democracy takes, when the president cares nothing for the democracy. Not everyone has been as brave. Some are too cowardly even to appear. Others show up only to invoke their right against self-incrimination. Among them was Trumps former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Once a general in the United States Army, Flynn couldnt even bring himself to say that he believed in the peaceful transfer of power. As he did with questions about whether the violence on Jan. 6 was morally or legally justified, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment. OK, but not even the peaceful transfer of power? Thats fundamental to the U.S. Constitution. Flynn swore fealty to it in his oath as a soldier. We fought a revolution so we could have it.

This is how our democracy one for which millions have laid down their lives can be lost. Its how this one can still be lost, with the former president continuing to command the loyalty of millions who are willing to be misled willing to support a would-be American despot who lied in an effort to illegally maintain power, who was reluctant to call off the mob that surged into the Capitol and who was content to see his vice president threatened with murder. It was a dark moment in our history.

Thankfully, Americans are also seeing how a democracy can be preserved: by public airing of evidence; by a determined effort to peel back layers of lies and deception; by courageous devotion to the Constitution.

Thats what Americans are seeing in the members of this bipartisan committee and especially among the witnesses who are brave enough and patriotic enough to testify truthfully before an audience of millions, despite the threats many of them have reported.

With them, Americans are being reminded this Independence Day of who they are, where they came from and what they should be celebrating.

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly!

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The Editorial Board: There are patriots among us this Independence Day - Buffalo News

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) The polls were closed in Iowa for less than 48 hours when South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was shaking hands and posing for pictures with eastern Iowa Republicans at a Cedar Rapids country club last week.

Scott, one of the many Republicans testing their presidential ambitions, hardly has the state to himself.

At least a half-dozen GOP presidential prospects are planning Iowa visits this summer, forays that are advertised as promoting candidates and the state Republican organization ahead of the fall midterm elections. But in reality, the trips are about building relationships and learning the political geography in the state scheduled to launch the campaign for the party's 2024 nomination.

While potential presidential candidates have dipped into Iowa for more than a year, the next round of visits marks a new phase of the ritual. With Iowa's June 7 primary out of the way, Republicans eyeing the White House can step up their travel and not worry about stepping into the state's intraparty rivalries.

Now that its done, its full-bore," state GOP Chairman Jeff Kauffman said. "Its unfettered.

Beyond Scott, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is expected to visit late this month, and plans to campaign with as many Iowa congressional Republican candidates as she can in a little more than two days.

Haley, who is also the former governor of South Carolina, another early-voting state in the presidential calendar, plans to begin her trip in eastern Iowa on June 29 with first-term Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. She'll also headline a state GOP fundraiser in Dubuque.

Working from the Mississippi Valley westward, she plans to keynote a fundraiser for Gov. Kim Reynolds. Haley will also campaign with Zach Nunn, chosen to face two-term Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne, who is among the most vulnerable House members this year. Haley's still-fluid schedule also includes attending Rep. Randy Feenstra's annual fundraiser in GOP-heavy western Iowa.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who visited several times in 2021, is expected the first week in July to speak at the county GOP dinner in Story County in central Iowa.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has visited Iowa more often than any GOP prospect, is working out details for a late summer return, aides said, likely timed to the Iowa State Fair in August, a storied draw for would-be candidates.

Pompeo did endorse Nunn before the primary, a nod to their shared military experience, Pompeo aides said.

The plans also come in light of the Republican National Committee's unanimous decision in April to open the 2024 presidential selection sequence in Iowa, a question still hanging over Iowa Democrats.

In 2020, a smartphone app designed to calculate and report the Democratic caucuses results failed, prompting a telephone backlog that prevented the party from reporting final results for nearly a week after the Feb. 3 contest. The Associated Press announced it was unable to declare a winner after irregularities and inconsistencies marred the results.

Stripped of their automatic special status in April, Iowa Democrats are trying to salvage their leadoff spot with a plan to allow early participation by mail and streamline the sometimes time-consuming process.

With Joe Biden in the White House, Democrats with White House ambitions have largely kept their distance from Iowa.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who won the 2016 caucuses and was the final candidate to drop from the 2020 Democratic contest, was in southeastern Iowa Friday to rally support for United Auto Workers striking at a CNH agricultural machinery plant. Sanders plans, which also included a stop in southeastern Wisconsin, sparked questions about whether the 80-year-old has a third White House bid in mind. He has said he wouldnt challenge Biden if the president sought reelection, and Sanders advisers said there had been no stated changes in his plans.

On the GOP side, Scott's return was not only timely. It reflected the dual aims of these early appearances, part introduction and part demonstration of support for the local party.

The 56-year-old sketched his childhood as one influenced by grandparents who helped raise him. Of his grandfather, Scott said, For a guy who picked cotton in the 1920s, he lived long enough to watch me pick out a seat in the United States Congress.

Sprinkled with lighthearted contrasts of his Southern home and Midwestern hosts, Scott also wasted no time noting he had contributed money from his campaign fundraising account to Iowa Republican candidates, including targeted eastern Iowa GOP House freshmen members Miller-Meeks and Ashley Hinson.

It's going to take us all pulling together," he told a table of about 10 eating barbecue sandwiches, as he worked the dining room before the event.

Even before Scott's arrival, former Vice President Mike Pence was on the phone that day to Chairman Kauffman and Steve Scheffler, Iowa's Republican National Committeeman, to talk about the primaries and the summer ahead, they said.

Pence was planning a summer trip to Iowa, though the date was not yet confirmed, a senior aide to the former vice president said.

Notably missing from the Iowa travel schedule is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among the most often mentioned rising national Republican figures in conversations with Iowa party activists this year. DeSantis' priority is running for reelection this year, aides said.

I love DeSantis, said Emma Aquino-Nemecek, a Linn County Republican Central Committee member who attended the Tim Scott event. Can you imagine if he comes? He would pack the place."

DeSantis got within shouting distance of Iowa in September, when he helped headline a fundraiser for Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, but he did not cross the Missouri River to touch Iowa soil.

Even more notably missing from the summer schedule so far is former President Donald Trump, who staged a massive rally in Des Moines last year at the Iowa state fairgrounds, and has endorsed several Iowa Republicans.

Kauffman said he had not heard from Trumps team. Likewise, Iowa operatives for Trump did not return messages.

Still, Trump sent signals to Iowa Republicans by paying for print ads in the program circulated at the Iowa Republican Partys state convention Saturday, as did Scott, Pompeo and Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

Scheffler said non-Trump Republicans may feel emboldened in light of Georgia Republicans' resounding rejection in last month's primary elections of the former president's endorsed candidate for governor.

Gov. Brian Kemp won the GOP primary comfortably over David Perdue, whom the former president endorsed after Trump narrowly lost Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, claiming without evidence the results were invalid due to rampant voter fraud.

The speed bump for Trump's influence in the primary elections could signal to other 2024 prospects that the former president is not invincible, Scheffler said.

If Trump keeps making these endorsements and they go south, like he did in Georgia, who knows?" Scheffler said.

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By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

On June 23, the California Senate rejected a constitutional amendment to remove language in the state Constitution that allows involuntary servitude as punishment to a crime with a 21-6 vote.

The 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865, prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude with one exception: if involuntary servitude was imposed as punishment for a crime.

The state of California is one of nine states in the country that permits involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.

Article I, section 6, of the California Constitution, describes the same prohibitions on slavery and involuntary servitude and the same exception for involuntary servitude as punishment for crime.

The number of votes cast in favor of Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 3, the California Abolition Act, fell short of the two-thirds vote requirement needed to move the bill to the ballot for Californians to decide its fate in the November General Election.

The Senate is expected to hold another floor vote on the legislation this week.

Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), who authored ACA 3 in 2021 while serving in the Assembly, said she focused the language in the bill on the slavery ban and vowed to bring it back for a vote when Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, asked her about it June 23.

The CA State Senate just reaffirmed its commitment to keeping slavery and involuntary servitude in the states constitution, Kamlager tweeted.

Jamilia Land, a member of the Anti-Violence Safety, and Accountability Project (ASAP), an organization that advocates for prisoners rights, said she remains committed to making sure slavery is struck out of the California constitution.

All we needed was 26 votes, Land said. But we have made amendments to ACA 3 on (June 24). Now it could either go back to the Senate on (June 27) or Thursday, June 30.

Five Republicans and one Democrat, Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), voted against the amendment.

He stated that the issue is certainly a question worthy of debate and can be addressed without a constitutional amendment.

Slavery was an evil that will forever be a stain on the history of our great country. We eliminated it through the Civil War and the adoption of the 13th Amendment, Glazer said in a June 23 statement. Involuntary servitude though lesser known also had a shameful past. ACA 3 is not even about involuntary servitude at least of the kind that was practiced 150 years ago. The question this measure raises is whether or not California should require felons in state or local jails prisons to work.

Glazer said that the Legislative Counsels office gave him a simple amendment that involuntary servitude would not include any rehabilitative activity required of an incarcerated person, including education, vocational training, or behavioral or substance abuse counseling.

The Counsel also suggested that the amendment does not include any work tasks required of an incarcerated person that generally benefit the residents of the facility in which the person is incarcerated, such as cooking, cleaning, grounds keeping, and laundry.

Lets adopt that amendment and then get back to work on the difficult challenge of making sure our prisons are run humanely, efficiently and in a way that leads to the rehabilitation of as many felons as possible, Glazer added.

Kamlager says involuntary servitude is a euphemism for forced labor and the language should be stricken from the constitution.

The states Department of Finance (DOF) estimated that the amendment would burden California taxpayers with $1.5 billion annually in wages to prisoners, DOF analyst Aaron Edwards told Senate the Appropriations Committee on June 16.

These are facts that we think would ultimately determine the outcome of future litigation and court decisions, Edwards said. The largest potential impact is to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which currently employs around 65,000 incarcerated persons to support central prison operations such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry services.

Right before the Juneteenth holiday weekend, the appropriations committee sent ACA 3 to the Senate floor with a 5-0 majority vote after Kamlager refuted Edwards financial data.

This country has been having economic discussions for hundreds of years around slavery, involuntary servitude, and indentured servants and enslavement still exists in the prison system, Kamlager said. She also added that a conflict was fought over the moral issue of slavery.

This bill does not talk about economics. Its a constitutional amendment, Kamlager said. The (DOF) is not talking about any of this in this grotesque analysis about why it makes more sense for the state of California to advocate for and allow involuntary servitude in prisons. I think (this conversation) is what led to the Civil War.

Three states have voted to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude Colorado, Utah, and Nebraska and in all three cases, the initiative was bipartisan and placed on the ballot by a unanimous vote of legislators, according to Max Parthas, the co-director of the Abolish Slavery National Network (ASNN).

ACA 3 is already attached to a report that addresses the harms of slavery. The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans issued its interim report to the California Legislature on June 1.

The report included a set of preliminary recommendations for policies that the California Legislature could adopt to remedy those harms, including its support for ACA 3. It examines the ongoing and compounding harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery and its lingering effects on American society today.

One of the preliminary recommendations in our report was to support ACA 3, said Los Angeles attorney Kamilah V. Moore, chairperson of Task Force. The Task Force saw how that type of legislation aligns perfectly with the idea of reparations for African Americans.

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COMMENTARY: Will Cassidy Hutchinson Shame Republicans to Tell the Truth? - Post News Group

Data from the N.C. State Board of Elections show that 41,795 N.C. voters have changed their party affiliation since the beginning of 2022. More than half of those, 23,374, are now unaffiliated voters, instead of a Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian.

Republicans are the only N.C. party to gain more voters than theyve lost so far this year, with nearly 5,000 Democrats becoming Republicans.

Of political parties, Democrats have lost the most voters since January 2022 with nearly 20,000 registered Democrats leaving the party and only 6,253 joining. The data show that of those who left, one quarter (4,999) became Republicans, 14,447 became unaffiliated, and 207 switched to the Libertarian Party.

About 9,830 voters have left Republican affiliation, and 11,341 switched to it. Of the Republican voters who changed their affiliation, most (8,348) became unaffiliated, 1,211 became Democrats, and 271 switched to Libertarian.

Libertarians lost 936 affiliated voters. Of those, 579 became unaffiliated, 220 became Republicans, and 137 became Democrats.

This year seems to have a slight uptick in registration changes when comparing it to the election years of the last decade, said Jim Stirling, research fellow at the John Locke Foundations Civitas Center for Public Integrity. 2020 had a massive number of registration changes, totaling 237,611 changes.This includes the now removed Green and Constitutional parties only having received 2,477 registrant changes.While we may not reach 2020 registration changes, we will likely see a large uptick in registrations as we get closer to November.

There has been speculation that voters are switching parties to manipulate another groups primary race and might switch back in time for the general election.

Short-term party switching is often talked about but is pretty rare in practice, said Andy Jackson, director of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity. It was popularized by Rush Limbaughs Operation Chaos in 2008, when he encouraged Republicans to change registration to vote in Democratic presidential primaries. More recently, there was an effort by progressives to change party registration to vote in the Republican 11th Congregssional District primary against Madison Cawthorn.

Only an estimated 2,000 Democrats made the switch in that race, not enough to have swayed the outcome.

North Carolina has more than 7 million registered voters, with about 2.5 million Democrats, 2.2 million Republicans, and 50,000 Libertarians. There is a meeting at the State Board of Elections scheduled for Thursday June 28, that would consider adding the Green Party to N.C. ballots. Controversy has erupted lately, though, that citizens whove signed the Greens petition are being contacted by a group associated with national Democrat operative Marc Elias. The group is encouraging them to remove their names from the petition. If the Green Party is allowed on N.C. ballots for November, it could erode Democrat affiliations even further.

The data illustrate a national trend with more voters switching to the Republican Party ahead of 2022 general elections. Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that 1 million voters in 43 states have switched to Republican affiliation this year, while only 63,000 switched to become Democrats. AP cited Raleigh as one of the key cities in the study where Republicans are gaining ground.

Democrats are hoping that last weeks U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wades constitutional right to an abortion will change the voter exodus from their party and force Democrats focus onto the state legislative races, where abortion law would now be set.

I think this is an earthquake in the midterms, said N.C. Democrat political strategist Morgan Jackson on Front Row with Marc Rotterman over the weekend, calling it a base motivator.

Both sides of the aisle think the Roe decision from the U.S. Supreme Court could benefit Democrats, with a recent Civitas Poll of likely N.C. voters finding that 40% of respondents identified as pro-life, while 43% of respondents said they are pro-choice. Among women 18-34 years old, 22% say they are pro-life, while 63% say they are pro-choice.

One of the reasons Democrats are having trouble in polls right now is because Democrats are not motivated, Jackson said. This changes all of that.

Republicans are working to wrest control of Congress from Democrats after losing majority power in 2020. They say that historic inflation in food, housing, energy, and gasoline costs combined with dropping wages will set the pace for November elections, giving Republicans the wind at their back. In Junes Civitas poll, only 41% of respondents say they plan on voting for Democrats at the national level and 39% at the state level.

Unaffiliated voters were the second-largest group to change parties, behind Democrats. Of the 11,376 unaffiliated voters to change, 6,122 became Republicans, 4,905 became Democrats, and 349 became Libertarians.

The general election is scheduled for Nov. 8. Voters must be registered by Oct. 14.

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More than 40000 NC voters have changed their political party this year - Carolina Journal

To understand every moment of Twitch every pitfall, every win, every ridiculous play is to understand the emotes, those instantaneous reactions in the right sidebar. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of emotes being sent over Twitch chat every second, and to someone whos just ventured in to check out a stream, it can be a little daunting.

Emotes have their ups and downs. Some, like Kappa, are used to help people communicate with one another during incredible streaming moments while the chat moves at breakneck speeds. Other people may start using an innocuous emote designed around a popular streamer for insulting or harmful reasons. Being part of Twitch culture means tuning into emotes as they emerge and evolve. Thats easier said than done.

New emotes are introduced all the time. Extensions like BTTV make it easier for third-parties to integrate emotes into Twitch, circumventing the platforms own rules. Not to mention that an emotes meaning in one community can be totally different in another. Its all very headache inducing if youre not in deep.

To get you up to speed, weve compiled a list of popular emotes below, with the intention of adding more if any rise in popularity, and updating the explanations if the emotes change in meaning. If a particular emote isnt on the list, but is popular within the circle of streamers you follow, the best way to understand what it means and how its used is to ask in chat, on Twitter or check out the streamers Reddit page for further details.

Polygon spoke with Don Caldwell, Know Your Memes managing editor, to help explain why some of these emotes are incredibly popular.

What it means: Kappa is a starting point for anyone trying to enter and understand Twitch culture, according to Caldwell. The emote is based on former Justin.TV employee, Josh DeSeno, who was charged with setting up the chat client. People mainly use or spam Kappa as a way of carrying out a sarcastic reply to something happening on stream.

It is the kind of quintessential emote, Caldwell said. It might get briefly taken over by Trihard or ForsenE or another popular emote, but it remains at the top consistently. Its almost a requirement to know what Kappa is.

When to use it: If a streamer does something that makes you roll your eyes or clap with a sarcastic bite, this is the emote to use.

What it means: TriHard is an extremely popular yet controversial emote and it has a detailed history. Based on a face made by streamer TriHex while at an anime convention in Dallas, the emote didnt officially become TriHard until 2014 when TriHex was speedrunning Yoshis Island and noticed a Twitch staff member hanging out in chat. TriHex told Kotaku he did everything possible to get their attention and, essentially, was trying way too hard. So he became TriHard.

The emote is mostly innocuous, though in recent years its been used with racist connotations by some Twitch users. By mid-2016 and into 2017, users would spam the screen with TriHard whenever a black streamer appeared, often punctuating racist remarks made in-chat. TriHex finally spoke about the emotes weaponization. He argued that banning the emote meant the bad actors won when there was nothing obscene or offensive about the emotes conception.

When to use it: If something exciting happens on screen, hype is building or an exciting announcement is made, feel free to use this emote. Remember, however, to be aware of who is on screen when the emote is being used, and ensure that your hype message doesnt read as insulting or offensive.

PogChamp, one of the oldest emotes on Twitch, is based on Gootecks, a professional Street Fighter player, and is mainly used to express surprise in response to something happening on stream. PogChamp is based on this video from 2000, but was given the name PogChamp because of a Mad Catz fight stick promo released in 2011 for a tournament that Gootecks was competing in.

PogChamp is still one of the most popular emotes, and part of the reason is because its pretty safe.

How to use it: If you want to express being surprised or excited by something.

4head is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to visuals. Its an emote based on a photo of League of Legends streamer Cadburrys widely grinning face. The emote started to pick up in 2015. Its a pretty wholesome meme, that is mostly used to express a reaction to a joke being made. The reaction can either be seen as an earnest response or sarcastic.

How to use it: In reaction to a joke.

Unlike TriHard, cmonbruhs emote has always been slightly controversial. Its difficult to pinpoint when CmonBruh really became a meme, but the earliest known mention dates back to 2016, according to Know Your Meme. The emote is primarily used to express confusion over something being said on stream, usually in response to a chat participant saying something with a racist connotation. The emote is also used, however, to illustrate a more general confusion hence the cmon, bruh language.

How to use it: If someone says something that is completely baffling and absurd.

LUL may seem pretty obvious ts the Twitch emote equivalent to LOL, but it has a serpentine history. LUL is based on streamer and YouTuber TotalBiscuit, whose real name is John Bain. Although Bain added the LUL emote to Twitch himself, it was later removed following a DMCA takedown request from the photographer who took the photo.

Since Twitch didnt want to touch the emote because of legal concerns, according to Bain, he uploaded the photo to BTTV. BTTV, otherwise known as BetterTTV, is a third-party browser extension that allows people to use emotes in chat. Since these arent run through Twitch directly, the emotes often circumvent rules. This meant LUL could exist as an emote a very, very popular emote on Twitch despite the DMCA takedown. It only grew from there.

How to use it: If you want to express deep laughter.

LuL is LUL its just the BTTV version. Whats most interesting about LuL, however, are the multiple variations that its birthed. Theres OmegaLUL, which features Bains laughing face but with wider mouth; OmegaLUL CD, which covers his mouth with a CD and was recently removed from Twitch because of controversy surrounding it; there are so many different variation of the LuL emote based on photos of different streamers laughing. There are so many variations that all stem from one joke but mean wildly different things, its nearly impossible to keep track of.

The best advice when using a LuL variation is to do a bit of research before using a specific emote. See how people in the community use the emote in chat, or check to see if conversations are happening on Reddit. The only way to safely use emotes in chat is to be informed about the connotation and message being sent.

Memes in general are about cultural literacy, Caldwell said. How can you show your membership to certain subculture? This is exactly whats going on with Twitch emotes, and some of these are really hard to grasp. Being able to have a firm grasp of how these emotes work is important in order to participate. I think were going to see more and more emotes, and more and more variations of the same emotes.

LuL is a good place to explore those types of variations because most of them are still directly related to laughing at something, and thats a near universal language.

How to use it: Again, depending on the context, its used if you want to express extraordinary laughter at something.

Finally, weve reached the cringe emote. haHAA is based on a photo of Andy Sambergs face from a Lonely Island music video that aired on Saturday Night Live in 2010. The specific haHAA is a text translation of the awkward laugh Samberg produces in the video, as seen below.

The emote was introduced in 2015, but didnt pick up steam until 2016 thanks to the speedrunning community. GamesDoneQuick, a semiannual charity event that brings together top speed runners, used the emote to express their discomfort if something cringe-worthy happened during the speedrun or on stream. The emote continued to grow, and was eventually banned by GDQ organizers because of the bullying connotation.

As it became more popular, members of the Twitch community began to associate the cringe-worthiness with young kids on the platform. Im 12, btw became punctuated by hahaa as a way of pointing to someone with the immaturity of a 12-year-old. It has since then become an emote used to illustrate a cringe-worthy moment on stream, and insult other people.

How to use it: If something happens on-stream or in-game that makes you cringe, you can use haHAA. That said, try not to be a total jerk on Twitch.

SourPls is another older emote that was taken from a YouTube video and made into a BTTV emote in 2014. The emotes name, based on the YouTube user who uploaded it, stars SourNotHardcore (a staff member at Twitch) dancing in a store. Hes got a goofy grin on his face. The emote has since gone through many variations with one of the most popular being ForsenPls. The emote went through its own period of troubles (the fact that it was animated caused problems for BTTV), but has since emerged as one of the most popular-to-date.

How to use it: If you want to celebrate a particularly good event on stream.

FeelsBadMan and FeelsGoodMan are two of the most popular Pepe the Frog variations, alongside EZ and PepeHands that well get into below. The emote is based on artist Matt Furies Pepe the Frog, a longstanding comic character that became co-opted and weaponized by the alt-right during the 2016 election cycle. Its one of the most recognizable memes on the internet, but Know Your Memes Caldwell said its use as an emote on Twitch is particularly interesting. The rest of the world associates Pepe the Frog with political ties, but Caldwell suggests that Twitchs Pepe use remains largely unpolitical.

Once all the controversy happened with Pepe in recent years especially in the 2016 election people were left wondering what the future of Pepe was, Caldwell said. Will he be able to escape this connotation? On Twitch, yes. Pepe is living in a non-political context, and completely divorced from politics. On Twitch, with these emotes, theres no political connotation.

Thats debatable. People know what Pepe the Frog means in 2018 its why certain organizations like the Overwatch League dont let people bring Pepe the Frog signs to events. Pepe the Frogs existence as a Twitch emote is so sophisticated and ever changing that it can exist as its own article, but there are certainly some emotes that are more popular than others. FeelsBadMan and FeelsGoodMan are precisely what they sound like. One version of the frog, FeelsBadMan, is used to express disappointment over something on screen. The other, FeelsGoodMan, is used to celebrate an accomplishment. Feels Good Man is based on a line the original Pepe the Frog character said in Furies comic strip. Think of FeelsBadMan and FeelsGoodMan as Twitchs own tragedy and comedy drama masks.

How to use it: Depending on the situation, if you want to express a feeling of deep sadness or joy over something thats happened, use FeelsBadMan or FeelsGoodMan.

Theres a lot to break down to really understand gachiGASM. The term gachimuchi is a Japanese phrase that refers to muscular men who also have a fair amount of fat. This is how many people describe Billy Herrington, a former adult film star, who gained notoriety after one of his videos went viral on a site called Nico Nico Douga. gachiGASM is, well, based on a photo of Herringtons face during orgasm. The emote is used to express a sense of deep pleasure over something that happens on screen, hence the GASM attached to the end of the emote name.

How to use it: If something happens that makes you really, really happy, feel free to use gachiGASM.

Monkas is another member of the Pepe emote family, and one of the most important emotes on Twitch. Monkas is the word youre most likely to see outside of Twitch chat (on Reddit or Twitter), and its crucial to understanding how certain communities react to it. Monkas goes back to a 4chan thread from 2011, but the illustration wasnt used as en emote until 2016 when someone uploaded it to the FrankerFaceZ Twitch extension. But it wasnt until February 2017, when it was dropped into Forsens Reddit page,, that the emote really seemed to take off. Once Forsens community runs with any emote or joke, all of Twitch is bound to notice, and other communities followed suit.

Monkas tends to show up often on different streams because its relatable. Its used in a moment of high intense action or something thats particularly anxiety-inducing. During IRL streams, this may happen during a face-to-face encounter or when a streamer is ranting about something. Chats for gaming streams will see this pop up during stressful gameplay moments, and the chat wants to express that feeling through a visual. Monkas is a pretty relatable emote, and its bound to be one you see floating around Twitch.

How to use it: If youre feeling particularly anxious or overwhelmed, throw up a Monkas.

Poggers is another Pepe emote, but this one is sort of based on PogChamp his frog alter ego . The emote was uploaded to FrankerFacez, and became popular in 2017. Its especially popular in certain scenes, like Overwatch streams or League of Legends matches.

How to use it: If youre surprised or excited.

If you guessed this is another Pepe the Frog take, youre correct. PepeHands also became mainstream thanks to Forsens community, who spread it Reddit and spammed it in chat. The image, which features Pepe crying and his hands in the air, is mainly used to express sadness over something.

How to use it: If something on stream upsets you or the streamer themselves is sad.

A robot meme based on video game news publication Destructoids logo. The robot is mainly used when a glitch, error or computerized sound is made on stream. Its also used, however, to poke fun at peoples robotic tendencies. It was used quite heavily during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbergs testimony before congress that was livestreamed on Twitch by The Washington Post. Twitch chat would spam Mr. Destructoid whenever Zuckerberg said something or reacted to a question.

How to use it: If someone is acting robotic, or a weird glitch happens.

Jebaited is an emote based on FGC icon Alex Jebailey. The icon, which shows Jebailey being taken aback by surprise, is used when someone is trying to troll or bait a streamer or other viewers in chat. Its essentially a callout well known within the Twitch community. The term jebaited is often thrown around on forums like Reddit when someone is successfully trolled.

How to use it: If someone in chat or on stream is trying to bait or troll others, use the emote to call them out.

There are so many other emotes that could have made it onto this list, but consider this your essential guide to getting started. Use the comment section below to drop some of your other favorite emotes that you use on Twitch.

Read more:
Twitch emotes list: the meaning of Twitch characters, explained - Polygon