Gearing up for it:

"Of course we’re doing better than chattel slavery. Of course we’re doing better than legal segregation. But what material benefit do we get from the comparison?"

150 years after Frederick Douglas' mane, black people are still getting in trouble with whites over our hair. That's the limits of our  freedom. The wealth created by the labor of millions for centuries, under torture, has been declared,...disappeared, putting America on pretty shaky psychological footing - not to mention, grinding it's dishonesty into the soil. A dishonesty the exploited already knew quite well and, so, expected.

"The help would often have a private chuckle about what we had heard, and how obvious it was that those speaking must have thought what they were saying went over our heads. We had schoolteachers working as maids,..."

Ahem. "We had"? Who was "had"? We're trending!

"Wisconsin Followed Trend As U.S. Sent Higher Rate of Black Men to Prison"

Go on, Y'all, do your thing - it's cool. I've already been made aware of how this works:

It's their word over centuries of evidence.

My life Vs. their beliefs.

Whatever they may be.

It's simply never been different, and a safe bet it would always be so,...

 

Well, what is a Christian, after all? Can we say that most of us are defined by the belief that Jesus Christ made the most gracious gift of his life and death for our redemption? Then what does he deserve from us? He said we are to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek. Granted, these are difficult teachings. But does our most gracious Lord deserve to have his name associated with concealed weapons and stand-your-ground laws, things that fly in the face of his teaching and example? Does he say anywhere that we exist primarily to drive an economy and flourish in it? He says precisely the opposite. Surely we all know this. I suspect that the association of Christianity with positions that would not survive a glance at the Gospels or the Epistles is opportunistic, and that if the actual Christians raised these questions those whose real commitments are to money and hostility and potential violence would drop the pretense and walk away.

H/T - Ann Althouse

• 74 percent of Americans believe Congress is contributing to problems in Washington rather than solving them.

• Only 22 percent think the nation is headed in the right direction. Two-thirds believe that the nation is in a "state of decline."

• Just two of every 10 Americans think the economy will get better in the next year.

• Only three of 10 Americans are optimistic about the future of the U.S. political system.

• A majority of Americans don't identify with either party.

Work Songs. 

A German (German!) "breakthrough" in science!

“They hurt the conservative movement, they hurt people’s health care, they hurt the country’s economic situation and they hurt the Republican party. And a lot of congressmen and senators are not going to win because we spent three months chasing our own tail — or at least, parts of the conservative movement spent three months chasing their own tail.”

[Actor Peter] Lorre was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee and asked to name anyone suspicious he had met since coming to the United States. He gave the committee a list of everyone he knew.