Hekate
Hekate's JournalBre'r Rabbit (Brother Rabbit) is an African-American Trickster tale-cycle...
As with all Tricksters, he gets himself into and out of trouble regularly, with his would-be nemesis Brother Fox. During one epic scene he has gotten covered with the abundant sticky tar of the region due to his curiosity (remember there's a state nickname of "Tarheels" ) and Fox is gloating. Rabbit pleads over and over not to be thrown into the briar patch. Fox, naturally, tosses Rabbit into the thorns. Rabbit goes to cover, laughing like hell, crowing that he had been born and bred in a briar patch.
Hekate, Mythologist
The RW declared war on us, and no lie is too big or too petty. Kerry was a Swiftboat HERO...
...and they turned his entire war record into a nasty joke.
Stop it. Just stop it.
Suuuure. Just like Obama's citizenship was "put to rest" by the release of his birth certificate
This is Birtherism by another name. Don't fall for it and don't give these bullies what they say they want. They will deny your truth and move on to another topic to hit you over the head with.
SPOT ON. One final point...
Final point: Why are Trump and his racist enablers trying to rob a fellow American of her family heritage? Every family has stories that about their ancestors that inspire them, and it becomes a kind of mythology, and it is a heritage in that family, specific DNA notwithstanding. Senator Elizabeth Warren, PhD, consumer advocate extraordinaire, has done nothing to dishonor the family mythology that was handed down to her word of mouth over many generations.
This is just another case of Birtherism, a demand to "prove" that you are who you say you are, that you produce your birth certificate, that you show you are a "real" American. Barack Obama's birth certificate was never the issue to the racists; his blackness was the issue, and Trump used that to the fullest. Elizabeth Warren's blue eyes and family stories are not the issue; the issue is she is an uppity smart-as-a-whip woman and Trump is a misogynistic bully to his bones.
Democrats, please stop buying into this stinking pile of horseshit shoveled out by Trump.
I don't recall any verse in the Bible commenting on the shape of the Earth...
I think people not involved in mathematics just believed the evidence of their eyes and "common sense."
Two cultures that did go in for math and geometry in a big way were the Greeks and the Egyptians, but they had a tiny leisure class that could spend time thinking about it and a larger professional class that could put it to practical use. Columbus didn't "discover" the shape of the Earth, he just used the knowledge as a mariner.
Most people throughout history were just busy getting on with their lives herding sheep and farming small plots with their own manual labor. They didn't have time for much speculation. The Earth looked "flat" (with mountains), so why waste time arguing about it?
Elaborate Christian theology arose in Medieval times, and cast a long shadow having as much to do with politics and power as anything else. American "evangelical" religion is a case by itself -- adherents tend to be ignorant of anything a European Christian would recognize as actual theology.
Since the Enlightenment, I think Western cultures have counted on public education to build on whatever scientific advances had happened and were happening. You didn't have to be an elite at the pinnacle of education to be taught the basics, and if the culture around you trusted in the basics -- well you get the point.
Current American education and current American popular culture have proven how fragile that can actually be, and how fragile democracy can be.
But back to my original point -- it's been some years since I sat down to read the Bible, but I don't recall the shape of the Earth being actually discussed therein. People tend to project, and tend to interpret.
It's amazing that the majority of men manage to go about their lives without ever assaulting...
...or otherwise pressing unwanted attention on women and girls. 
(I hope it is obvious that I mean that ironically, even sarcastically)
I just think there are a certain percentage who let any kind of power-over go straight to their heads, and apparently if that's combined with any kind of sociopathic tendencies they get promoted repeatedly and elected repeatedly. Beats me why. Because there are certainly a lot of decent men available.
I'm a spell-out-the-rules and make people sign them kind of person. I worked in Human Resources back when it was called Personnel. I was in the Labor Relations unit, where people went to file grievances. Later on I spent years on the County Affirmative Action Commission, and then Civil Service Commission. If anyone at either the County or the University broke rules about sexual harassment, race, gender orientation, or any other form of discrimination, the one thing they could not do was plead ignorance. All new hires from the janitor to the CEO were given a copy of the employee manual, and were required to take group classes (later, online) emphasizing the legal nature of their behavior. They had to sign things saying they understood.
It pisses me off no end that the US Congress, which passed anti-discrimination legislation in the first place, specifically exempted themselves. Both they and the hugely profitable creative industries have got to get their shit together and make this a priority, or nothing will change. They have to make rules for themselves, with teeth, and actually enforce them.
As for Al Franken -- jeez. SNL is one of the most popular variety shows of all time, and you would think no one ever actually watched the thing at all, the way people are carrying on. Same with USO tours, which have always been geared toward a young male audience yearning for flirty girls and boob jokes. People are shocked, shocked! that there is raunchy humor involved. Unless there there is a whole line of much more credible accusers (than the first one) against Franken waiting in the wings, I'm going to have his back. The GOP is salivating much too much over the prospect of reducing the numbers of Democrats in the Senate, on any pretext whatsoever.
Sorry for the rant, Stinky. It's not aimed at you.
Best president of my 70 years. Exceptional character and intelligence, zero scandals or indictments
Loved and respected his wife and daughters.
Went into his office every damned day of his presidency and worked for us, trying to make the country and the world a better place.
Dragged down every damned day by Republican obstructionists, and, based on my experience at DU, by whinging "progressives" who couldn't get over his not having a magic wand to make their every wish come true on Day One.
Held his head high, never complained, kept working. Killed Osama bin Ladin, who Dubya let escape at Tora Bora.
Got the ACA passed while Ted Kennedy was still alive.
Worked on the Paris Climate Accord and made sure we were a part of it.
Worked on a nuclear deal with Iran to make sure they stopped developing weapons, and returned their own money to them.
Tried to close down Guantanamo, but was blocked by the GOP.
Tried to get a 21st Century multi-nation Pacific trade deal passed, which would have helped rein in China's aspirations, and you would have thought he was selling puppies to them for soup the way some here carried on.
And on and on, while every single day people on the Right and Left bitched and moaned. Barack Obama came in after we had 8 awful years of Dubya. Obama kept the entire economy from collapsing into another Great Depression.
And now look what we have in Washington DC. Look at the fcking nightmare we have in DC.
Why you want to engage in shit stirring (sorry: "judging" ) regarding Barack Obama at this particular moment I can only speculate, MatthewG. But I will tell you this: History will not be kind to Dubya. History wll not be kind to Trump, nor will it be kind to the American people who brought him in to power. History WILL be kind to Barack Obama.
We record her show, as she is must-watch in our house. I've liked her a long time...
Ever since reading her post-Palin book.
Then watching her and Steve Schmidt during the Trump campaign -- wow. Did anybody in this thread watch their commentary at the RNC when Trump-Pence were nominated, with that appalling dark apocalyptic speech DTs gave? They were both as stunned as any of the rest of us. Steve Schmidt started talking about the US Constitution and the rest of the foundational documents, and how Trump and his followers and his enablers were a stark danger to everything this country stands for. He told the story the way I would have. And he choked up. He choked up and couldn't go on for a moment.
I am so glad that they found a home at MSNBC. We need their voices, not just for their pov and information, but to remind us that sane conservatives are our allies in wanting the best for this country.
This is nothing new. "Soft on Communism" was Dick Nixon's first smear against opponents...
...long before he ran for President.
For a certain segment of the GOP it's always been their go-to smear: Democrats are soft on crime, soft on Communism, insufficiently supportive of the military, and unpatriotic. Then Gingrich came along and taught them how to twist words in the best fashion of Goebbels. I watched over years as "Liberal" went from being a fairly neutral descriptor to a dirty word by the time Dubya got into office.
It did not happen all at once, but now a good man like Steve Schmidt talks about "the moral rot at the core of the Republican Party," and it is true. The Republican Party of small-town bankers and Dwight Eisenhower is in ruins -- and inasmuch as the country needs two healthy political parties to function, it is bad for us all on every level.
Resist.
Candidates who don't embrace the (D) after their name and the Democratic Platform...
...are not going to win Democratic elections.
Claiming we just had a Socialist sweep is disingenuous at best.
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