“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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South: Hey! We want to own black people.
North: No.
South: Let's compromise. We'll let them go when they're 40.
When you put faith in the so-called "responsible people" around Trump, you empower them. There are no responsible people around him.
John Kelly says US Civil War was prompted by inability to compromise
Ta-Nahisi Coates points out that 3/5 of a man was a compromise.
There was also the Missouri compromise, called, wait-for-it, "The Missouri Compromise"
I figured the "compromise" Kelly was getting at was a lottery where one out of every three slaves holding the winning ticket would be emancipated.
WTF, someone needs to explain to these clowns how the Republican Party was founded.
Today's Republican Party is not the Party of the mid-1800's – no emancipation for them!
For today's #GOP, freedom means authoritarianism, liberty means plutocracy and kleptocracy, responsibility means anti-science self-destruction.
Don't forget baptism by immersion and the 6,000 year old earth.
WOTD "Total Quality Trumpism".
I read someone else recommending the difficult decision on compromising on slavery — would slaves only be slaves 3 days a week, or 4.
Apparently, the gap was too great, and potential compromises were never achieved.
There's a meme I can't find right now that describes the 1.6% of the southern population, plantation owners, convincing the other 98.4% of their compatriots to go to war to preserve their way of life.
The more things change…
Depends on your source: the 1850 census showed 5.6 % of southerners owning slaves
This is a more typical figure: less than 2% of big plantation owners owned >100 slaves, but small farmers often owned 1-5 slaves. The chart below is an average figure – ~ 25% of all southerners owned a few slaves. However, this graphic isn't sourced to census figures or anything reliable.
Thanks for the info/ graphics, MJ.
Note that it says 5.6 pct of southerners owned slaves but just 1.4 pct of all Americans did.
That quote is the best description I’ve seen of our current political climate. DONT ENCOURAGE THE IGNINT. DONT BE BIPARTISAN WITH THE STOOPID.
37,000 Russian Bots on Twitter.
80,000 Facebook posts.
130,000,000 Americans saw some form of Russian propaganda.
How many comments at CPols intended to distract and divide? AC?
Zapp,
Happy Halloween.
Are you still trying to figure out why Hillary lost?
She sucked, nothing more.
Oh, look…..Andy is back!
Just in time for the Mueller indictments and Tancredo gubernatorial announcement.
We haven't seen you in months. You left poor Moderatus here alone to defend the #MAGA Movement.
Wrong, fuckface…your side cheated. I'm surprised that you would show up here, comrade. Your game has been exposed for all to see.
Nice thing about American democracy, though. Even Russian operatives are allowed to speak their lies. Luckily…you aren't going to get away with it.
Thing is, PissAnt…if you are a Russian, you are our enemy. If you are an American, you are a traitor. Either way, you are a piece of shit. You are not even funny any more….just contemptible…and worthy of a prison sentence.
You ain't been missed, Himmler-Breath.
I'm not so sure about that, V. Every community needs a functioning, useful idiot and Fluffnutz still hasn't proven he's up to that one (what should be for him easily achieved) task. The Librarian is a stark reminder of the vile demographic Drumpf gives a woody to each and every day.
Countdown to the return of PP?
Pure coincidence that there was organized purchase of social media advertising and a coordinated campaign of social media messaging … sponsored by another country.
I hear foreigners making campaign contributions is illegal. Maybe, just maybe, foreign paid "in-kind" contributions of social media influence ought to be made illegal, too.
Hey Gerbils! Welcome back! Guess your other gig hosting Hitler revivals didn't quite work out.
So what are your plans after Trump tosses the last shovel full of dirt on the grave of the Republican Party?
Can you die of Schadenfreude?
Great twitter rant from Seth Abramson.
Seth AbramsonVerified account @SethAbramson 7h7 hours ago
OK, now we can officially call it a party. From the folks who used to be the Statesman, who now hold the domain Pols wishes they had purchased years ago.
Republican Tom Tancredo set to launch campaign for governor of Colorado
Dems should start using Democratic rhetoric, quit using Republican rhetoric, quit fearing the Right Wing Smear/Lie Machine.
Nothing that Bernie says should be considered wild, reckless, or something that cannot be repeated by any Democrat – local or national.
You mean like "free stuff for everybody" without a care as to who will pay for it all?
The rich will pay, silly boy!
You're so well informed, CHB. I'm sure you've made an exhaustive survey of Sanders' speeches, and can find where he was promoting "Free stuff for everybody without a care as to who will pay for it all".
A mere supporter and humble researcher and writer, such as myself, can't find where Bernie ever said that, but I'm sure that you know what you're talking about.
His health care proposal is paid for by payroll and corporate taxes. Since consumers don't pay copays or health insurance premiums, they save money. I already know that you won't bother to actually read the link I posted (Vger likes to brag that he never clicks a link I post), so perhaps you can share where you're getting your information.
I have never made such a stupid claim, though I don't always make it through all of your more meandering posts. You do have to learn the difference between citing a partisan site and finding neutral sources that analyze such claims.
I'm not going to waste my time dredging up all of the insults and put downs you've posted, about me or others. Suffice it to say that your habit of posting pot-shots, not positions, has not gone unnoticed or unremembered.
When you actually deign to post a link to a source – any source– other than your own opinions, I might take your condescending idea that I should find more "neutral sources" a bit more seriously.
Well, if you don't mind wasting the time to find a post where I brag I never read your links, you won't be embarrassed by me calling you a person who makes stuff up.. Or were you just hitting the cooking sherry and feeling sorry for yourself again? Because we both know I never said that.
Whatever. Figure it out. Or don't. I do mind wasting the time on more pointless word-brangling with you. And I really don't care what you think of me.
Oh, I have it figured out all right. And I know I will never win a boasting contest with someone who brags about how humble she is!
Drumpf found his phone. General Kelly thwarted once again.
To quote our resurrected troll, "oops". Welcome back. That wire from Manafort's Cyprus account show up just in time?
The man with the greatest brain (and memory) we've ever known? He addresses Papadopoulos by his first name and as a "low level volunteer." Wasn't he a foreign policy advisor? They accept volunteer foreign policy advisors?
Well, that settles it. You can always take what a lawyer says about his indicted client to the bank.
Preferably, the Bank of Cyprus.
This Twitter thread by Seth Abramson is rich in detail.
Or the Macedonia Savings and Loan.
Because this tact worked so well for Nixon?
Fake News!
"I want to make this perfectly clear. I am not a crook."
'I want to quit': Fox News employees say their network's Russia coverage was 'an embarrassment'