Forget about the Presidency for a moment. Trump's behavior would get him fired from Applebee's." ~ Andy Borowitz
Quote of the Day
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." ~ Isaac Asimov
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So now even Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell are getting caught up in the Russian web. This is priceless—I'd like to see all of them frog marched out of office. It would correct one of the major blunders of the 21st century." ~ Truthspew
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I'm very positive about California, but then again, the rest of the country, you have to realize that just under 50% of the population are very racist. They voted for their racism. That's why the polls were never accurate because no one wanted to admit their racism. Before the election, I said they would go into the voting booth and say 'Fuck Transgender bathrooms, Fuck Black Lives Matter, Fuck those Mexicans! I want mine!' And that's exactly what they did. And don't think gay marriage didn't have anything to do with it! That was the last gasp of the white, heterosexual male." ~ Zoey Tur
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We are blessed with technology that would be indescribable to our forefathers. We have the wherewithal, the know-it-all, to feed everybody, clothe everybody, and give every human on Earth a chance. We know now what we could never have known before-that we now have the option for all humanity to make it successfully on this planet in this lifetime. Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment." ~ Hanging Up My Spurs
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Donald Trump, champion and avatar of the shallow state, has won power because his supporters are threatened by what they don't understand, and what they don't understand is almost everything. Indeed, from evolution to data about our economy to the science of vaccines to the the threats we face in the world, they reject vast subjects rooted in fact in order to have reality conform to their worldviews. They don't dig for truth; they skim the media for anything that makes them feel better about themselves. To many of them, knowledge is not a useful tool but a cunning barrier elites have created to keep power form the average man and woman." ~ David Rothkopf, Professor of International Relations and Political Science
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Republicans need to learn the difference between being conservative and being a dick." ~ Bill Maher
Quote of the Day
For all who excused Mr. Trump's rhetoric in the campaign as just talk, the reckoning has come. I hope it isn't true, but I fear Mr. Trump is nearing or perhaps already beyond any hope of redemption. And now the question is will enough pressure be turned to all those who enable his antics with their tacit encouragement. There has been a wall of unbending support from virtually every Republican in Congress, and even some Democrats. Among many people, this will be seen as anything approaching acceptable. And mind you, talk is cheap. No one needs to hear how you don't agree with the President. What are you going to do about it? Do you maintain that an Administration that seeks to subvert the protections of our Constitution is fit to rule unchecked? Or fit to rule at all?" ~ Dan Rather
Quote Of The Day
This is the strange way of the world, that people who simply want to love are instead forced to become warriors." ~ Lauren Oliver
Quote Of The Day
These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts"…
When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cajones to answer a single question…
When you have a President stand before the stars of the fallen CIA agents and boast about the size of his crowds (lies) and how great his authoritarian inaugural speech was….
These are not normal times. The press has never seen anything like this before. The public has never seen anything like this before. And the political leaders of both parties have never seen anything like this before.
What can we do? We can all step up and say simply and without equivocation. "A lie, is a lie, is a lie!" And if someone won't say it, those of us who know that there is such a thing as the truth must do whatever is in our power to diminish the liar's malignant reach into our society.
There is one group of people who can do a lot – very quickly. And that is Republicans in Congress. Without their support, Donald Trump's presidency will falter. So here is what I think everyone in the press must do. If you are interviewing a Paul Ryan, a Mitch McConnell, or any other GOP elected official, the first question must be "what will you do to combat the lying from the White House?" If they dodge and weave, keep with the follow ups. And if they refuse to give a satisfactory answer, end the interview.
Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy. And you are either with them, with us, with our Constitution, our history, and the future of our nation, or you are against it. Everyone must answer that question." ~ Dan Rather
Quote Of The Day
I'm not saying that David Bowie was holding the fabric of the Universe together, but [gestures broadly at everything]…" ~ Katie Loewy
Quote Of The Day
Once again, life imitates art…
Humans fancy that there's something special about the way we perceive the world, and yet we live in loops, as tight and as closed as the Hosts do, seldom questioning our choices; content, and waiting to be told what to do next." ~ Doctor Robert Ford, Westworld
(Another) Quote Of The Day
The world doesn't see the Electoral College. The world doesn't see the nearly 3 million more popular votes. What the world sees is a nation of hate, bigotry, xenophobia, stupidity, and christian superstition." ~ Chucktech
Quote of the Day
Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." ~ George Orwell
Quote Of The Day
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain." ~ Roy Batty, Blade Runner
That quote pretty much sums up my feelings about the state of the world right now. We've reached such incredible levels of technology, and through science our understanding of the Universe is expanding expotentially. We're seeing things that have never been seen by human eyes before, and as we stand on the brink of actually leaving our cradle, we're also on the brink of torching it and sending civilization back to the stone age. Deep down, it seems so very many members of our species are still nothing more than unthinking savages, fueled by hate, terrified of change, frightened of "the other" in whatever form that takes—and determined to destroy it no matter what the cost.
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Exactly.
It's hard not to feel a bit hopeless right now. Many of the things I've focused on in the last few years now feel trivial, or badly broken, in the wake of last week's election." ~ Andy Baio
On Blogging
There a few reasons why I'm sad about the decline of independent blogs, and why I think they're still worth fighting for.
Ultimately, it comes down to two things: ownership and control.
Here, I control my words. Nobody can shut this site down, run annoying ads on it, or sell it to a phone company. Nobody can tell me what I can or can't say, and I have complete control over the way it's displayed. Nobody except me can change the URL structure, breaking 14 years of links to content on the web." ~ Andy Baio
Quote Of The Day
Sometimes I wish I wasn't as conscious as I am. It would be so much easier." ~ River Phoenix
Timely
Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Quote Of The Day
I am no longer accepting things I cannot change. I am changing things I cannot accept. ~ Angela Davis.
Quote Of The Day
Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded, because the elements—the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life—weren't created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today." ~ Lawrence M. Krauss, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing
Preach, Sister!
I think what's beautiful and hard and interesting about cancer is that it tears you down and builds you, and tears you down and builds you. It remakes you so many different times. The person I thought I was supposed to be or was going to be or who I thought I was six months ago is now somebody completely different." ~ Shannen Doherty
This is so true.
And for an Obligatory DUNE Reference…
Trump is an evil Kwisatz Haderach come early, à la Paul Atreides, and out of control of his would be creators." ~ Paul Weimer
Quote Of The Day
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson
Quote Of The Day
The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired." ~ Robert Southey
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Quote of the Day
He has no clue about the difference between negotiating a business deal and negotiating with sovereign nations. A thin-skinned, temperamental, shoot-from-the-hip and lip, uninformed commander-in-chief is too great a risk for America…He is unqualified and unfit to be commander-in-chief." ~ Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, speaking about Donald the Cheeto-faced Shitgibbon in a Wall Street op-ed, Friday 16 September 2016.
Quote Of The Day
One other thing I'd like to remind people is that the next president could nominate up to four Supreme Court Justices. I know that's not a sexy issue and it doesn't tend to dominate the headlines, but it really, really should. Whatever issues you're passionate about (voting rights, access to abortion, campaign finance, health care, etc.) the Supreme Court wreaks massive influence on them all. The Court is composed of a mere (usually) nine people who together decide things like whether you should be able to vote in Alabama if you're black or if you should have to drive 300 miles to get an abortion if you've been raped. So in the coming weeks and months you have to decide if you'd like Hillary Clinton to nominate the people who make those decisions for you or if you'd prefer Donald Trump to do that. To illustrate, Donald Trump could substantively influence critical decisions your granddaughter has to make about her reproductive health care, long after you're dead. And that's not a silly thought exercise, that's an elementary understanding of how the Supreme Court, whose Justices are appointed for life, shapes American lives through law." ~ Rob Delaney
You Call Me A Liberal?
Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Voting Rights Act, liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed every one of these programs. Every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'liberal' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor." ~ Congressman Santos, The West Wing, 2005