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āI have a foreboding of an America in my childrenās or grandchildrenās time ā when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and whatās true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.ā
āCarl Sagan
(The Demon-Haunted World)
13 Likes
Well, this sucks.
However, it does suggest that testing your soil for lead (and arsenic) might be more important than I had previously believed.
16 Likes
Decades of leaded gasoline. Thanks, assholes.
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Or Uranium if you live in Port Hope, Ontario. 
I count myself lucky to have spent my formative years in the middle of nowhereā¦
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I think this is key to effectively questioning authority, and not finding yourself subject to the sort of thing thatās happened to Trumpās followers is that youāre not questioning authority just to do it, but in order to improve things for all. There is a huge difference between calling out, say, police brutality that is regularly visited upon communities of color, and whinging because a rich white man canāt get away with doing whatever he wants to do, just because heās wealthy and white.
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PAY TEACHERS MORE!!!
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That and give them greater autonomy in the classroom and shield them from BS from right wing, pearl clutching parentsā¦
16 Likes
Yeah, that too! As the daughter (wow, first time Iāve written that out 
) of a retired teacher, Iām very sensitive to the mistreatment so many teachers receive. They work way too hard to be treated with such disdain, indifference, etc.
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So, fined and lost licenses but not in jail (yet 
)ā¦and unfuck that legal expert for treating anything about this as a laughing matter, too. 
12 Likes
Theyāre really not off to a good start with that new civil war.
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They threw a civil war, and no body is comingā¦
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IANAL, nor a prosecutor, but I donāt understand how thatās not rape or sexual assault.
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RIP Trashcat. The world is a little less weird this morning.
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The name fit her. In a good way.
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Oh, you lost your kittay??
Iām so sorry.
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