Today's GIF

Was he going for the Miley Cyrus thing - or - what?

Today's Tweet

Uhhh - uh-oh

This is creeping me out a little. pic.twitter.com/jL8QgWFRnR

— jamie (@gnuman1979) March 13, 2019

Today's Today

Happy Pi Day, nerds.

A Brief Reminder

Argue it out. Get in there and fight. Push for the candidate you think best represents your values and your point of view.

Just don't get stoopid about it. Remember what it is we have to do. 

Prioritize. Focus. Maintain.

Today's Tweet

Editing is beautiful.

You need to be more #BeBreast with shitler Or DumpTheDump!!! #WednesdayWisdom

Shhhh...😎 pic.twitter.com/aYbZYc3Amf

— Khati (@mbla807) March 13, 2019

On Micro-Aggressions And Safe Spaces

Beau Of The Fifth Column - Justin King

To be clear, I have some sympathy for the rubes - as people. But I have nothing beyond the basic respect for their humanity. 

When ignorance is a choice, and that choice means you've decided that being a contrarian dick is preferable to being a decent guy who cares about something beyond his own animal instincts - then you've made it all but impossible for me to have any regard for you at all.

That said - 

And that's the magic formula for "conservatives". For the most part, in the quest for political power, they've completely abandoned their sense of shame. But as long as they can count on everybody else maintaining a small nugget of honor - a willingness to be introspective - then they believe they can flip the script on us for just about anything.

We've all heard it a thousand times: "Where's that famous Liberal Tolerance?"

Just remember Popper's Paradox. We need to guard against becoming tolerant of intolerance.

Today's Pix

click

Today's Yeesh

This is 9 kinds of fucked up. And ain't that just Won-fuckin'-derful.

Via Daily Progress, Charlottesville:

College coaches and others have been charged in a sweeping admissions bribery case unsealed in federal court.

The racketeering conspiracy charges unveiled Tuesday were brought against the coaches at schools including Wake Forest University, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.

Authorities say the coaches accepted bribes in exchange for admitting students as athletes, regardless of their ability.

Prosecutors say parents paid an admissions consultant $25 million from 2011 through Feb. 2019 to bribe coaches and administrators to label their children as recruited athletes to boost their chances of getting into schools.

Prosecutors allege that fake athletic profiles were also made to make students look like strong high school athletes when they actually weren't.

Authorities say the consulting company also bribed administrators of college entrance exams to allow a Florida man to take the tests on behalf of students or replace their answers with his.

I think I understand that yearning for "back in the day", but it's really not what we need to be doing.

"Back in the day" it was also 9 kinds of fucked up - it was just a different set of 9 kinds of fucked up, but it seems like we oughta be able to notice a little overall improvement.

Yes - we have to teach them, and watch them, and guide them, and sometimes we have to reprimand them - and even punish them when it gets really bad.

But we have to stop trying to smash-fit them into our own expectations. We can't force them to be people they don't want to be. And we have to stop pretending they actually are the people we insist they are to our friends and families.

When do we figure out that we have to let kids be kids before we can expect any success with that other stuff?

Paraphrasing Mr Waters: Don't be a brick in the wall.

One last thing - 

FUCK YOU, RICH PEOPLE

All Is Not As It Seems

It starts with a tweet.

I’m completely obsessed by click farms - where thousands of machines are lined up to generate fake engagement. pic.twitter.com/NgDm4AWiCm

— Jamie Bartlett (@JamieJBartlett) March 11, 2019

Connect this up with the work of Edward Bernays...

...and suddenly, it's not at all surprising that we've gotten to where we are now.

Today's Tweet

When you submit your budget, you're making a statement of your values - your morality. You're telling us what matters to you and what doesn't.

Remember when Trump promised to not to cut Medicaid & Medicare?

What does he do?

His latest budget...

Cuts Medicare by $845 billion.
Cuts Medicaid by $241 billion.pic.twitter.com/nKQBmc0QVr

— The Hummingbird 🐦 (@SaysHummingbird) March 11, 2019