Bill Blake @billblake2018@liberdon.com

Another angle on how a loss of faith in democratic institutions could prove catastrophic for America. The author is a lot more optimistic than I am....
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/how-america-ends/600757/

His presence reveals not just the sordid character of his associates and others in government, but that of many ordinary citizens.
---
RT @matthewjdowd@twitter.com
I have said this before and it bears repeating, President Trump doesn’t cause people to lose their character, he reveals people’s character for who they truly are. And for that we should all be grateful that we can see clearly.
https://twitter.com/matthewjdowd/status/1193888229797376000

RT @ghettoverit@twitter.com
The people who accuse others of cultural appropriaton are racists.

They try to divide people into baskets where culture exists exclusively in one basket or the other... and you can't draw inspiration from or admire the contents of another's basket.

Culture is an amalgam.

Not all men give in to the forces that would make them monsters.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-wiener-my-lai-hugh-thompson-20180316-story.html

The Sixth Amendment applies to criminal trials and has no applicability to impeachment proceedings. Trump has *NO* Sixth Amendment rights in those hearings. Calabresi is a lawyer and knows this. He is flat out lying in this article. https://dailycaller.com/2019/11/08/calabresi-trump-public-trial/

Cops record being given criminal orders and resign rather than carry them out. Kudos to them for having a spine.

https://reason.com/2019/11/06/a-tennessee-police-departments-last-officer-resigns-over-ticket-quotas/

There was that instant before I realized that this was from The Onion.

And then the scary realization that this might be real news in the not too distant future.

(I think executions should be very public, if we're to have them at all. But *not* as entertainment.)
---
RT @TheOnion@twitter.com
Dallas Cowboys Halftime Show Features Execution Of Texas Prisoner https://trib.al/pdXuzHv
https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1193721283231539202

Which will collapse first? The dams or the economy?
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RT @AP@twitter.com
A more than two-year investigation by @AP finds that nearly 1,700 dams in the U.S. are in poor or unsatisfactory condition. And many are looming over homes, businesses, highways or entire communities. http://apne.ws/EzJZOw0
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1193510905125974016

RT @InsanityIsFree@twitter.com
@AlexRDell@twitter.com @slomotion4199@twitter.com @LPNational@twitter.com "Would you vote..."

Nope.

"... for an LP presidential candidate..."

Hell no.

"... who promised helicopter rides?"

Absolutely not.

State violence is never acceptable, and rightwing authoritarianism has a party already. If I voted, it'd have to be for a difference. I won't.

"May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." ― Samuel Adams

But they do not choose to go from us in peace, they choose to use violence and threat to compel the rest of us to be equally craven.

2/2

"If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you;

1/2

America could end up dictator vs. civil society, should those involved in the impeachment proceedings fail to respect the procedures and institutions enshrined in our Constitution. If this is correct, Civil War II may be much closer than I thought.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/31/regime-cleavage-229895

https://reason.com/2019/11/07/as-times-change-the-fbi-continues-its-snoopy-and-heavy-handed-ways/

RT @WriteGrlProbs@twitter.com
This is stupid. “Self-partnered” is an oxymoron.

The true victims of our day and age are the words in our dictionary. https://twitter.com/cnn/status/1191686317614227456

Watch all the power-hungry little politicians fight their fights--and smile, realizing that it really doesn't matter who wins because they're all Hell bent on flushing America and its founding principles down the toilet.
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RT @KTLA@twitter.com
BREAKING: Cyclist who flipped off Trump's motorcade, and lost her job because of it, wins bid for local office in Virginia http://on.ktla.com/AFDG6
https://twitter.com/KTLA/status/1191944908535406596

Progressivism is toxic, science fiction edition.

https://quillette.com/2019/11/05/science-fiction-purges-its-problematic-past/

Saying—after—me:—

Once there was The People—Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth.
Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, O ye slain!
Once there was The People—it shall never be again!
4/4

Whatsoever, for any cause,
Seeketh to take or give,
Power above or beyond the Laws,
Suffer it not to live!
Holy State or Holy King—
Or Holy People’s Will—
Have no truck with the senseless thing.
Order the guns and kill
3/4

Whether The People be led by The Lord,
Or lured by the loudest throat:
If it be quicker to die by the sword
Or cheaper to die by vote—
These are things we have dealt with once,
(And they will not rise from their grave)
For Holy People, however it runs,
Endeth in wholly Slave.
2/4