Month: April 2017

 
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University, recently wrote a short book detailing the threat of tyranny facing Americans (and the world) today. Snyder gives twenty important lessons we must learn from history if we are to avoid tyranny. History does not repeat, says Professor Snyder, but it does instruct.

What follows is a summary of Snyder’s Twenty Lessons. I have expanded the text on the points I found most thought-provoking

– More –
 

 
From Michael John Scott at MadMikesAmerica:

Trump is nothing if not unpredictable, sometimes confusingly so. He now says that he is open to postponing his bizarre demand for Congress to finance his border wall with Mexico!

The White House confirmed the comments.

– More –
 

Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

 
From PZ Myers:

Fire these cops.

Five twelve-year-old kids walking home from a basketball game; a policeman pulls up, opens his car door, and immediately pulls a gun on them and tells them to get on the ground. Nobody gets shot this time, fortunately, but it’s hard to watch — those poor kids are initially confused, and then terrified, and you get to hear them crying and wailing in fear as the brave police officer calmly and politely threatens them with death.

– More –
 

 
From Jonathan Bernstein:

Let’s be clear on this: The House of Representatives right now is just a total disgrace.

I’m fed up with them now after yet another attempt to put together a health care reform bill. Not because of the content of the bill … well, that is, the content of the tentative agreement on a concept, or an idea, or whatever they think they’re doing without actually having, so far at least, any legislative language. Let alone a Congressional Budget Office score which might tell them how much their bill costs or what it would actually accomplish. No, the problem here is process. It ain’t legislating in a way that is likely to produce coherent public policy.

– More –
 

 
From The Journal of Improbable Research:

Those in the business of marketing desserts might be interested in new research from Donya Shabgard at the University of Manitoba, US, who has investigated, possibly for the first time, the influence of an advertisement’s dessert portrayal on consumer perceptions of desirability. Specifically, should advertisements show desserts with a bite taken out of them or not?

– More –
 

 
From Green Eagle:

Remember when Devin Nunes was proving that both he personally and the House “investigation” into Donald Trump’s clear treason were dedicated to nothing but covering up the truth? Remember when everyone in the media was saying that it was just fine to have these people collaborating in this monstrous crime, because we were being assured that the Senate investigation was determined to get to the bottom of the whole thing?

Was there anyone out there who bought that? Outside of the mainstream press, of course, which is paid to swallow garbage like that on a daily basis? Why, Republican Senator Richard Burr told us over and over again that he was serious about this inquiry, and Democratic ranking member Mark Warner was right there to be a character witness for Burr.

– More –
 

Wondering why a few conservative friends are less than impressed.

 
From Dave Dubya:

Here we are at the precipice of a new American Dark Age.

The Trumpist Republicans are openly and shamelessly suppressing science. They are freezing grants, shutting down NASA climate research, and muzzling the scientific voices of the EPA and other agencies.

How is this making America great?

– More –
 

 
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:

Evidently the first attempt to “repeal and replace” Obamacare was enough to convince Republicans that they have no workable plan. Trump, along with some GOP leaders are trying to resuscitate their terrible plan now.

They put themselves in a bad situation with years of attacking Obamacare — and assuring the public they could pass a better plan (which would offer cheaper and better insurance to everyone). But they have been unable to come up with any plan that would even come close to doing that.

– More –