Today's Tweet

A perfect metaphor of the United States right now. pic.twitter.com/hyotCHn4Zu

— shauna (@goldengateblond) July 7, 2017

But lemme guess - they'll tell the rubes it's a sure sign of 45*'s awesomely awesome awesomeness; that's he's forging ahead, being the one true leader; and if only the whole world would shove their heads up his manly ass, he'd show us all the blah blah fucking blah.

Today's Lesson

Michael Shermer - Morality: absolute and otherwise

Without god, there can be no "Objective Morality"?

How do you claim anything is objective if it's based on something as subjective as a belief in god?

If you start with a premise that's false, it's almost impossible to reach a conclusion that's true.

Today's GIF

At least as great as British cuisine and British cars.

Today's Tweet

Both the fence and the burglar agreed there was no need to relitigate who the TV belonged to.

— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 7, 2017

It Gets Worse

Institutional Memory is an important thing, but keep a coupla points in mind:

Sometimes it's something that ties us in with tradition so tightly it's hard to make changes that become more and more desperately needed.

Sometimes it can keep us from repeating certain mistakes that can easily prove fatal.

Sweet dreams, kids.

A Toon

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste or intelligence of the American consumer.

It'll Never Fly

The Guardian:

If money amplifies the voices of wealthy Americans in politics, Seattle is trying something that aims to give low-income and middle-class voters a signal boost.

The city’s new ‘Democracy Voucher’ program, the first of its kind in the US, provides every eligible Seattle resident with $100 in taxpayer-funded vouchers to donate to the candidates of their choice. The goal is to incentivize candidates to take heed of a broad range of residents – homeless people, minimum-wage workers, seniors on fixed incomes – as well as the big-dollar donors who often dictate the political conversation.

This August’s primary is the trial run for the program. But before Seattle can crow about having re-enfranchised long-overlooked voters, it must contend with conservative opposition.

It makes too much sense in an era of "Things aren't fair? Nobody gives a fuck about fair, Snowflake".

And it provides some pretty obvious opportunity for abuse and/or manipulation.  But we gotta start somewhere with something.

Especially considering the fight we're in now.

The Brennan Center:

On May 11, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.” The Commission is charged with studying “the registration and voting processes used in Federal elections” and identifying “vulnerabilities in voting systems” that could lead to voter fraud. Vice President Mike Pence is the chair, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach—a known promoter of voting restrictions and the myth of voter fraud—is the vice chair.

The executive order comes on the heels of President Trump’s repeated assertions that millions voted illegally in the 2016 election. For years, claims of fraud have been used to justify unwarranted voting restrictions. There is strong reason to suspect this Commission is not a legitimate attempt to study elections, but rather a tool for enabling voter suppression.

Today's Pix

Today's GIF

Full automation of the workplace is a bad idea because it denies us the genius of creative fuck-around-ery.

via GIPHY

It's Not Hypocrisy

Let's call it a Flexible Multi-Tiered Moral Code.

CNN:

Hobby Lobby agreed to forfeit thousands of artifacts from modern-day Iraq and pay a $3 million fine to resolve a civil action the Justice Department brought against the company, according to court documents.

The DOJ said the company received the falsely labeled artifacts from a United Arab Emirates-based supplier.

The artifacts, ancient cuneiform tablets and clay bullae, were smuggled into the United States through the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Justice officials said. Cuneiform is an ancient system of writing on clay tablets that was used in Mesopotamia, and clay bullae are balls of clay on which seals have been imprinted.

That whole 6th commandment thing - OK for thee but not for me.

Today's Tweet

tapes pic.twitter.com/EYKHaGE1Lh

— Trump Draws (@TrumpDraws) June 22, 2017

A Simple Question

How was your 4th of July, Mr President?

Some Of What We Lose

Claire Kelly at Melville House

The Mark Twain branch of the Detroit Public Library opened to the public on February 22, 1940 with over 20,000 books. The building’s architect was the prolific and celebrated Wirt C. Rowland, who was known as an “avid modernist and supporter of the Arts and Crafts movement…best known for contributing Art Deco-style skyscrapers to Detroit’s skyline.”

The library was referred to as a “regional library” and was designed to be larger than other neighborhood libraries. It included space for members of the community to not only sit and read books and periodicals, but also hold events and social gatherings...

We bitch about the loss of "community", and ignore the fact we've pissed it away because we don't have one fuckin' clue what the word actually means to us.

From urbanex.com:

 

Today's Liberal Redneck

Trae Crowder - We've been thru worse shit than this

45* Theater

The eternal semantic struggle: Is it "real"?

Ok Twitter- let's see if this wrestling meme can get MORE RETWEETS that the president's wrestling meme. pic.twitter.com/bTWJhttCAo

— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) July 2, 2017