- Green Eagle reacts to a Supreme Court decision that may become as much an attack on democracy as is the ongoing subterranean campaign by Putin’s Russia.
- Subversion of democracy takes other forms as well. Bribery can work in a lot of ways. One involves campaign finance. Vote for bills that will benefit me and I’ll buy a lot of ads for you. Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara hears the argument, sort of, and is having none of it. It’s about free speech. And, after all, “Each of us is free to consider the issues and candidates before we vote.” Since dark money has no effect, why object to it? No harm, no foul.
I don’t quite buy it. If dark money has no effect, what is purpose of providing it? Why hide it? And what is the harm in discouraging it through full disclosure?
- Interesting account at Scotties Toy Box. Twenty years ago, Anthony Breznican meets a friendly, low key photographer who does exemplary work. He discovers the man once saved a life after taking a tragic photo that changed the world and may have saved countless more lives.
Two decades after finding that his brief companion was THAT photographer, he sees another horribly tragic photograph that we can only hope performs that terrible task again, saving other lives once more.
- North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz tells us, convincingly, compellingly, how America would be looking at migrants if they were white. I believe the record tells us exactly how those who represent us would react. And why.
- At Blue in the Bluegrass, Yellow Dog explains why both sides are the same. I suspect satire.
- Who would publicly refuse to vote for Hillary then get mad at voters who cast their ballots for her victorious racist opponent? driftglass has the defiant article and the angry video that demonstrates just which professor managed to do both.
- Democrats debate and Infidel753 offers insight. Kamala Harris bursts on the scene like a fireworks propelled rocket while Joe Biden just bursts.
- Andy Borowitz explains why, after watching Kamala Harris in debate, a terrified Donald Trump writes a check to Joe Biden’s campaign.
- Professor PZ Myers would not watch the first debate. He doesn’t like his own feelings about the political climate. “The visceral loathing makes me uncomfortable.” He challenges those who can stomach the experience to distill the essence of the event for him. In one meme, someone does just that.
- The Journal of Improbable Research finds research by scientists in South Korea suggesting alcohol can alleviate writer’s cramp. An accompanying list lends some perspective: a few authors who suffered from writer’s cramp, and a few afflicted with alcoholism. I dunno. The price paid for this cure seems high.
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