Yes, there is a town in New York called Whitesboro.
And yes, the seal of the town features a crude cartoon drawing of a white man throttling a Native American.
And yes, the town - at least for a time - resisted changing their seal.
You can't make this up.
I would like to take a moment and remind the world that the slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy. An argument without merit. A fear-mongering tactic. A strategy used by unscrupulous cretins and bumbling, illogical fools.
It seems as if we have either forgotten this fact or never learned it.
If a President proposes a law that closes a loophole allowing lunatics to purchase guns, it does not mean that this is the first step in taking away everyone's gun, nor can this be logically or legitimately argument. Disagree with the President if you will. Support this gun show loophole if you think it's critical to the survival of the republic. But please don't base your disagreement upon a logical fallacy. It's annoying and stupid.
Ashley Feinberg at Gawker received received an unusual email from the Bush campaign last week.
In exchange for $25, Bush promised to stop sending email to supporters on his mailing list for two weeks. In the email, Bush refers to this extortion attempt as a "deal," an "early Christmas present," and a way to "opt-out."
It's kind of unbelievable. Unthinkable.
This is a ridiculous and horrible way to add funds to the campaign coffers (and another signal that we are in desperate need of campaign finance reform), but then again, if it works for a Bush, then why not for me?
So if you'd like me to ignore you for a month - no newsletters, books, blog posts, tweets, Instagram photos, or podcasts - send me some cash. I'll cut you right out. Ensure that nothing that I produce ends up in your inbox or social media feed.
And unlike Jeb Bush, I won't even identify a required dollar amount. Give whatever you think is right. Whatever you can afford. I'm not discriminating.
Give more than $25 if you'd like. Please.
And if you know me personally, hand me some cash and I won't speak to you for a month. I won't even look in your direction. I promise!
And unlike Jeb Bush, who will use this money to compete for the top spot in a political party that currently favors the likes of Donald Trump and Ben Carson, I'll put the money to some good use. I'll pay bills. Take my wife to dinner. Invest in my children's education.
So let me know. We can use Venmo. Simple and fast.
I thought I understood the events in Syria, but it turns out that they were more nuanced and complicated than I had originally expected.
This video explains things succinctly and clearly.
In their new book, Simple Sabotage: A Modern Field Manual for Detecting and Rooting Out Everyday Behaviors That Undermine Your Workplace, Robert M. Galford and Cary Greene, examine the "Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” a guide published by the OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) in 1944 to assist European spies undermine the Axis powers from within.
Galford and Greene examine eight techniques outlined in the field manual that are eerily similar to what often goes on in workplaces today.
Here are the eight tactics the OSS recommended for tripping up an Axis agency from the inside:
In my nearly three decades of work in a variety of fields, I have seen these strategies deployed with frightening regularity.
My own additions to the list would include:
Have any items that you would like to recommend be added to the list? Please let me know.
We need to stop saying that hindsight is 20/20.
If this were true:
Human beings are highly adept at repeating their mistakes. Through bad habits, unrecognized flaws, denial, and self deception, many people are incapable of looking back on their lives with anything approximating 20/20 vision.
Even historians disagree when examining the historical record. They debate the wisdom of political decisions, campaign strategies, and military maneuvers.
At best, hindsight is occasionally 20/20.
That's not as catchy as the conventional "Hindsight is 20/20," but at least it's true.
It's Columbus Day. Just like last year and every year before, I find myself at home day with my kids, honoring a villain who did nothing worth celebrating, despite what my daughter was taught at school last week.
I didn't have the heart to tell her that you can't discover a place that's already populated with more than 10 million people.
And you can't discover a place that the Vikings actually explored and colonized four hundred years earlier.
I didn't want to tell her that Columbus murdered, mutilated, and enslaved Native Americans, precipitating one of the worst genocides in the history of the world.
I didn't want to tell her that Columbus never actually set foot on the continent. That he mistook the islands of the Caribbean for Asia. That he wasn't even Italian.
When it comes to the stupid things that Americans do, celebrating Columbus Day is one of the most blatantly stupid. It's ridiculous. It's as if we are trying to be stupid.
I'd like to propose an alternative to Columbus Day. Rather than engaging in a protracted fight over which worthy historical figure should be celebrated in his place, I'd like to adopt a modified version of a Russian holiday called Conception Day.
On Conception Day (also known as the Day of Procreation), Russians are given the option of staying home from work to try to make a baby. The holiday was originally initiated by Lenin in order combat low birth rates and reaffirmed a few years ago by Vladimir Putin for similar reasons, adding the chance for cash and prizes to couples who manage to give birth to a child exactly nine months later.
The United States doesn't suffer from a declining population, but why not just give Americans a day off to stay home and have sex?
Even the most ardent (and clearly brain damaged) supporters of Columbus would agree that sex is better than Columbus, and given the laundry list of benefits to having sex, it only makes sense for the government to support a little more fooling around amongst its citizens.
If the United States ever chose to adopt this plan, I want to make it clear that children should not be learning songs about Procreation Day at school.
A song full of lies about a murderous villain is still better than listening to my daughter sing a song that encourages me to have sex.
Seriously. Why can't more of our leaders be like this?
Republican Presidential candidate Scott Walker says that he doesn't know if being gay is a choice.
I have a simple solution to this problem:
He could simply ask any one of the millions of gay Americans if being gay is a choice and believe what they say, since they would know.
I can't begin to imagine the degree of arrogance and self-righteousness required for a heterosexual man (who dropped out of college with a 2.6 GPA) to completely discount the word of millions of American citizens who would absolutely know the answer to this question.
Does he think that all gay people are liars?
Even better, Walker could stop caring if being gay was a choice, since that question happens to be one of the stupidest questions being asked today.
Do the morons who think that being gay is a choice really expect my homosexual friends to suddenly switch to relationships with opposite sex partners like you might change your order at the local diner?
Even if being gay were a choice (WHICH IT'S NOT, SCOTT WALKER), who cares?
Perhaps Walker could say that as a conservative politician who believes that government is too large and omnipresent in the lives of Americans, he doesn't think it's his or anyone else's business when it comes to who a person chooses to love.
Now that would be a real answer.
Look, it's a story about Kate Middleton, the possibly American woman married to one of the British princes (I say possibly because I'm not certain of Middleton's nationality and refuse to spend even a second confirming this suspicion).
Yup, that's her. The princess and her latest baby. Does she have two kids or three now? I'm also not quite sure. But definitely more than one.
But wait. I don't need to pay attention to any of this. I can change the channel or turn the page in this magazine or close this website because:
It has nothing to do with my country.
These people don't have any actual power or influence over anything.
The whole point of this American Revolution was to break free of the influence of these entitled people of unearned stature and wealth.
It's a monarchy. Yes, a neutered, ridiculous, fairly pathetic monarchy that a growing segment of the British people believe should be eliminated, but still, it's a monarchy. And monarchies are stupid. Right? We're a republic. We believe in the power of the people. Again, the whole American Revolution was fought to break free of these royal buffoons. What would our founding fathers think of us staring at these royals from afar, obsessing over their weddings and clothing and babies?
There are people far more worthy of my attention. People who actually accomplished things without enormous budgets and prestige conferred upon them at birth. These princes and queens and dukes are only receiving this attention because of who their Mommys and Daddys are. Maybe I should read about people who are not exclusively wealthy and white and privileged beyond imagination. Instead of reading about Kate's latest fitness regime, let me go find an article about Chris Gardner or Ursula Burns or Elon Musk or Janet Yellen.
These are people worthy of my attention. Perhaps I might even learn something from them or be inspired by their accomplishments.
Those are the thoughts that I suggest run through your mind the next time you encounter a story about British royalty.
Don Featherstone passed away last month. He was known for two fairly remarkable things:
1. He was the creator of the pink plastic flamingo that adorns so many American lawns even today. He and his wife kept 57 pink flamingos on his front lawn in Fitchburg, MA.
I have yet to figure out why he chose the number 57 and it's really bothering me.
Side note: The fact that his last name was Featherstone and his greatest career achievement was a sculptured plastic bird is a likely signal that we are living in a computer generated world with surprisingly ham-handed naming algorithms.
2. Don Featherstone and his wife, Nancy, dressed alike for more than 30 years.
No explanation for this wardrobe decision that I can find, either. It's also really bothering me.
This existed. It was real.
You're welcome.
“From such beginnings sprang the combat sport of clog fighting, or ‘purring’ as it was known in Lancashire. An illegal sport, purring involved two men kicking each other until one admitted defeat or blood was drawn. Sometimes the men were naked, and there was also a variation in which the men would sit on either side of a large barrel, their feet dangling inside, and kick each other inside the barrel. Often people would gamble upon the outcome. Grudges could be settled this way – the Lancashire phrase “Ah’ll gi thi some clog toe pie” could easily lead to a purring match, and some very sore shins.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a statement Sunday saying state workers can refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses if doing so is contrary to his or her religious beliefs.
"(Judges and other state workers) may claim that the government cannot force them to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies over their religious objections," Paxton said in the statement.
Workers who choose to deny licenses to same-sex couples may face litigation and fines, but there are lawyers willing to defend them, according to Paxton.
Paxton - along with many other Republicans - are apparently channeling their inner George Wallaces. How quickly they have forgotten how history has judged the former Alabama Governor who ignored the Court's decision and attempted to block the integration of Alabama schools and universities.
Support for same sex marriage stands at 61% amongst all Americans according to the latest Pew poll and at 73% amongst millennials. Only 14 states banned gay marriage before this ruling (making their calls for a Constitutional amendment against gay marriage a big, fat joke).
The good guys are winning, and there is no reversing this tide.
In the end, each and every one of these Republicans will be deemed to have been on the wrong side of history. They will find themselves standing alongside the likes of George Wallace forever more. .
On a related note: How can I reject the Citizens United ruling? What can we do to refuse to adhere to that ruling?
Because that's the ruling that we should ignore. Big time.
Slate's John Dickerson recently published a piece entitled:
Over the course of the next seven days, I plan on completing Dickerson's application by answering each of the questions. I've always wanted to be President, so perhaps my answers will be so impressive that a grassroots campaign supporting my candidacy will ignite.
Answers to previous questions:
Question #3: What’s your greatest political triumph?
In the spring of my freshman year of college, my friend, Chris Johnson, sat down next to me in biology class and told me that I should run for President of the Student Senate. He was running for Vice President and wanted a running mate.
We were attending Manchester Community College at the time. I was managing a McDonald’s restaurant - working 50 hours a week - while taking a full course load. I had no extra time to devote to anything else in my life.
I also only had about half a dozen friends on campus and knew nothing about campus politics.
And the election was a week away.
Still, I said yes.
In a debate against my Presidential opponents, I was asked how I expected to find to find the time to be President with my enormous school and work load. I said that I had asked my father the same question when deciding if I should run, and he had said, “Great men don’t find the time. Great men make the time.”
The answer was received with one of the only rounds of applause that day.
Of course, my father had said no such thing. I hadn’t spoken to my father in more than ten years. But when I wished that I had the advice of my father, I imagined what he would say, and if the advice was good, I followed it.
I lost the election by a handful of votes to a woman named Jane.
Political career over.
Except that Jane did not return to the college in the fall in order to serve her term (medical issues), so the Vice Presidential winner (not Chris) assumed the presidency. Chris was then asked to join the Senate in the now-vacant Executive Senator position, and he convinced the Senate to open up a second Executive Senator position for me as well. A month later, when the Treasurer resigned, I took her place.
My political career was born.
The most important aspect of this political triumph was my decision to treat all of the candidates for President with dignity and respect. At least one other Presidential candidates did not, and as a result, he was never even considered for any of the available positions when they opened up that fall. I became known as a person who could deliver an excellent speech, listen to others, and campaign hard without attacking my opponents. Those skills became desirable when there was a vacancy to be filled.
In the end, I was probably better off serving as Treasurer than President. I was incredibly busy that year, and the Treasurer’s position – while taxing – was not nearly as time consuming as the President’s position. I managed to lose the election yet reap the benefits of political office, including leadership retreats to Washington and New York, an office on campus, and the camaraderie and friendship that our political team enjoyed, and I had the opportunity to learn under the tutelage of our Dean of Students, Alfred Carter, which has served me well in life.
Politics is famous for dirty tricks. But sometimes the high road pays off.
In case you didn’t hear, the students at Liberty University were required to attend Ted Cruz’s speech announcing his candidacy for President last week.
Failure to do so would have resulted in a fine of $10.
Even worse, when students attempted to leave after realizing that they were at a political rally, they were refused exit.
“I felt very acutely that I was being used as political bait today” sophomore Emily Foreman said on Monday. “I think our freedom of speech was hampered today when we weren’t allowed to leave.”
A slightly embarrassing launch to a dead-in-the-water Presidential campaign
Most important, you can’t make this stuff up.
Serious, sincere question:
When someone like Ted Cruz continues to reject the realities of climate change like he did last week on Late Night, does he really believe what he is saying, or is he merely pandering to the idiots he needs to win a primary?
I really want to know:
Is Ted Cruz a liar or an idiot?
If it’s the former, please add his name to United States Politicians in 2015 Who Denied the Existence of Manmade Climate Change Despite Overwhelming and Undeniable Scientific Evidence in Order to Further Their Political Careers At the Expense of Future Generations.
Jon Stewart, while interviewing Mike Huckabee, said the following:
Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. And the protections that we have for religion — we protect religion. And talk about a lifestyle choice —religion is absolutely a choice. Gay people don’t choose to be gay. At what age did you choose to not be gay?
You know, you talk about the pro-life movement being one of the great shames of our nation. I think if you want number two, I think it’s that: It’s a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights as someone else.
I feel bad for Mike Huckabee. He talks about same sex marriage like it's 1996 and the world is still ruled by ignorant bigots and sensible cowards.
Someone please tell him that while he was busy doing his show on Fox News, the world finally moved on.
As my home state of Connecticut prepares for the oncoming blizzard, there are a few things to keep in mind:
______________________
The blizzard will hit on Monday night and continue through Tuesday. But the roads will be cleared and stores will be open by Wednesday, which means we are talking about about 36 hours trapped indoors.
And you’ll probably spend about 16 of those hours sleeping.
This is not a big deal. Even if you lose power, which will suck, it’s not a big deal.
______________________
I’d also like to remind my fellow New Englanders that blizzards are not exactly uncommon in our neck of the woods. In the last five years, New England – and specifically Connecticut – has been hit by three major blizzards, more than two dozen snowstorms of a foot or more, and an October nor’easter which did more damage than all of the blizzards combined.
We’ve seen this before. We’ll see it again. We live in New England. It shouldn’t be a surprise.
Also, you probably had enough bread and milk to get you through Wednesday.
I don’t want to change history. Just watch it unfold.
For moments like these:
Michael Lewis has Eight Things I Wish for Wall Street. Blogger Jason Kottke highlighted #2 on his blog:
2. No person under the age of 35 will be allowed to work on Wall Street.
I like this one a lot, but I like #3 even better:
3. Women will henceforth make all Wall Street trading decisions.
Men are more prone to financial risk-taking, and overconfidence, and so will be banned from even secondary roles on Wall Street trading desks -- though they will be permitted to do whatever damage they would like in their private investment accounts. Trading is a bit like pornography: Women may like it, but they don't like it nearly as much as men, and they certainly don't like it in ways that create difficulties for society. Put them in charge of all financial decision-making and the decisions will be more boring, but more sociable. Of course, this raises a practical question: How will our society find enough women older than 35, with no special intellectual ability, to fill all of Wall Street's trading jobs? Well ...
I would like to take it one step further. Or a million steps further.
I believe that the world would be a far better place if women were in charge. Therefore, I would support the immediate replacement of all male members of the House of Representatives and the Senate with women.
I’d do the same with every state governor, and if I could, every mayor as well.
I would also support the immediate replacement of the all of the male CEOs of all of the Fortune 500 companies with women.
I routinely charge my female students with the task of charging forward and taking over the world. I tell them that I will be disappointed if women are not ruling this country, if not the world, by the time I am a spry 100 years old.
I suspect that Michael Lewis would agree.