Month: October 2020

Hey, I grew up in Canada and didn’t study U.S. history or civics, but even I was able to match Amy Coney Barrett by being able to name four out of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, namely:

1. Freedom of speech
2. Freedom of the press
3. Freedom of religion
4. Freedom of assembly

The one both she and I had forgotten was “Freedom to petition the government”, which is also phrased as “Freedom to protest”.

Remember: I have an excuse — I’m not a U.S. citizen  (I’m a Canadian with a “green card”) and didn’t grow up here. I didn’t take civics classes here. I just know what I know about the U.S. from reading the news, books, and observation.

You know who should be able to answer a softball question about anything on the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution — by a friendly party (Republican senator Ben Sasse)? An American-born law school graduate, judge, and candidate for Supreme Court justice.

I’ll give her this: She carries herself a good deal better than this toolbag:

The upcoming “Treehouse of Horror” episode of The Simpsons features this segment listing 50 reasons to NOT vote for Trump, and believe me, there are plenty more, including his profiting off the Secret Service, and having taxpayers cover the $100+ million costs of his 250+ days of golfing.

Here are some stills from the segment:

Because Trump’s base instinct is make things generally worse, his White House issued a Columbus Day proclamation that is just as bad as you’d expect.

An excerpt:

Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy.  These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions.  Rather than learn from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, deprive it of any splendor, and mark it as inherently sinister.  They seek to squash any dissent from their orthodoxy.  We must not give in to these tactics or consent to such a bleak view of our history.  We must teach future generations about our storied heritage, starting with the protection of monuments to our intrepid heroes like Columbus.  This June, I signed an Executive Order to ensure that any person or group destroying or vandalizing a Federal monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I have also taken steps to ensure that we preserve our Nation’s history and promote patriotic education.  In July, I signed another Executive Order to build and rebuild monuments to iconic American figures in a National Garden of American Heroes.  In September, I announced the creation of the 1776 Commission, which will encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history and honor our founding.  In addition, last month I signed an Executive Order to root out the teaching of racially divisive concepts from the Federal workplace, many of which are grounded in the same type of revisionist history that is trying to erase Christopher Columbus from our national heritage.  Together, we must safeguard our history and stop this new wave of iconoclasm by standing against those who spread hate and division.

Call it Indigenous People’s Day instead. Adam “Adam Ruins Everything” Conover explains in a segment titled Christopher Columbus Was a Murderous Moron:

From Vox, here’s a more serious take on why the U.S. celebrates the so-called “Columbus Day”:

College Humor explains “Columbusing”, which is when you “discover” something that’s already been there and isn’t actually new, but you act as if it is:

Instead, just say “Happy Thanksgiving”. After all, today, the second Monday in October, is Thanksgiving in Canada:

For more, see:

• Business Insider: The UK is telling ministers to cozy up to the Biden camp, as Boris Johnson is ‘writing off Trump’ in the upcoming US election
• The Times: Panicking No 10* dumps Donald Trump and woos Joe Biden

For U.S. readers: “No 10” is the colloquial name for 10 Downing Street, the London address for the UK Prime Minister’s office.