True Meaning of Politics on July 4th

found online by Raymond

 
From Jonathan Bernstein:

July 4th should be a celebration of the one thing that really makes the United States of America an exceptional nation. That’s politics.

The United States began as an experiment in politics, with a founding document declaring us dedicated (as Lincoln said) not to a patch of land, a religion, an ethnicity, or a culture, but to a proposition: that “all men are created equal.” The revolution was completed by a constitution which institutionalized politics, including participation by ordinary citizens. It’s not an exaggeration to say that for the framers, the ability to take part in politics was the whole point of establishing the nation.

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Look into the Eyes and Get a Sense of the Soul?

found online by Raymond

 
From The Journal of Improbable Research:

‘Is the face a window to the soul?’ – asks Professor Stephen B. Porter, Ph.D. (University of British Columbia-Okanagan) and colleagues, in a 2008 paper for the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. To find out, they devised an experiment in which undergraduate students were shown photos of both Nobel Peace Prize winners and criminals from America’s Most Wanted list – either for 1/10th of a second or for 30 seconds. The crucial question was – could participants tell the difference between a Nobel Peace Prize winner and someone eluding justice for extremely serious crimes?

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Trump’s CNN Video Turns Out to Have Been Made by Huge Racist

found online by Raymond

 
From Tommy Christopher:

It was probably obvious to everyone that Trump didn’t manipulate that video himself, but The Washington Post has tracked down a Reddit user who appears to be the person responsible for inserting the CNN logo on an old professional wrestling video.

The Post identified reddit user “HanAssholeSolo” as the culprit:

Thus Han‑‑‑‑‑‑‑Solo’s offering on Wednesday: A GIF of Trump pummeling Vince McMahon at a long-ago WrestleMania, with a CNN logo superimposed over McMahon’s face.

“Trump takes down fake news,” it was titled.

It did fine. A few thousand votes. Nothing special by r/The_Donald’s standard.

Until 9:21 a.m. Sunday, that is, when Trump tweeted a tweaked version of the clip, and made history on r/The_Donald.

The Post notes in its headline that HanAssholSolo “wrote about stabbing Muslims,” which is true, but the user’s reddit history is chock full of racism against other groups, as well, particularly Black people.

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This TrumpWorld Grab-Bag May Contain Deliverables

found online by Raymond

 
From Vixen Strangely Strangely Blogged:

You know who I don’t think has an attention span? Carter Page. Recent word is he sat and was interviewed by the FBI for ten hours without a lawyer. I’ve seen this guy on tv. He’s one of the lawyer-needingest people I’ve ever seen. His eventual public hearing will be delightful, I have no doubt.

But you probably know what I think the big story is–Michael Flynn was trolling the DarkWeb for Hillary Clinton’s emails–that’s right, the guy who already wasn’t admitting he was paid by Russia and Turkey and contacting foreign agents here and there, was also trying to interface with haxxors. Now, I guess on one hand you could just look at Mike Flynn as your obvious burnable scapegoat–a bad-idea engine that the rest of the campaign should really distance themselves from, right? But keep in mind that the President-elect had this guy onboard through the transition even when what he was about was supposedly coming to light via warnings from Deputy AG Sally Yates. (But you know what? I think they knew before that. I just do.)

But it gets weirder…

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Voter Suppression Goes National

found online by Raymond

 
From Green Eagle:

There has been a lot of attention to the recent request from Trump’s new chair of his laughably titled “Election Integrity Commission,” Kris Kobach, for every bit of information the States have on every registered voter in the country, but no one seems to be stating out in the open what is going on here.

Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, has earned a reputation as the most vicious vote suppressor in the country. Here is his latest plan to accomplish this.

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Committing to Chumphood

found online by Raymond

 
From driftglass:

But to be willing to be played for absolute chumps decade after decade, can’t be a half-ass thing. You have to really commit to it. You have to go all-in on being a voluntarily brainwashed meathead, which means as you inevitably sink deeper and deeper into the ravages of lies and depravity that your lifestyle demands, you not only have to burn down and wall off everything that might cause you to catch an unflatteringly reflected glimpse of your malignant idiocy, but you have to learn to take a kind of smirking delight in being seditious, paranoid asshole.

It’s got to get good to you, as the kids say.

And a mob of 63 million who are just that far gone — who laugh as they set everything on fire because at long last the only thing that can assuage their contempt for Reality is inflicting misery on others — is what the GOP has become.

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