Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@qoto.org

@billjurgensen Exactly. This attitude is clear from the private letters between the founders that we have as they discussed all this. The attitude was basically, well if they're stupid enough to do this then they deserve the government they get. The founders assumed rational politicians and rational voters. They had no knowledge of mass manipulation tactics. Those weren't developed until the early 20th century. Nor was mass manipulation possible or imaginable to the founders, who lived when horseback was the fastest form of communication.

They never imagined a world where I, for example, can post something on the Internet that millions of people across the whole country could see instantly if they wanted to.

@HopelessDemigod Ah, I see you know. The embarrassing thing is that Clinton signed off on it. It's the only serious beef I have with him. I suspect he didn't realize what the consequences would be, just like Reagan didn't realize the consequences of his policies. Either way, I'd still punch him in the mouth for it.

@HopelessDemigod That's not good -- at all. Medium wave AM broadcast radio might be old-tech, but it's vital for national security, vital for the government to be able to communicate with the entire population in case of a REAL emergency.

It's simple and always works. It's long range at night so one clear channel station can be picked up by anyone with an AM radio out to 1,000 miles. Every car has an AM radio. In a pinch with no electricity, any electronics hobbyist can make a crystal radio and pick up AM broadcast.

Low-tech has an infinite advantage in a dire emergency. It's infinite because other forms of communication all require technology that can't be cobbled together out of junk in the basement. AM radio can be.

@courtcan @GayDeceiver Neither have I. RAH wrote about it in his autobiographical tell-all book, to be published after his death.

@courtcan @GayDeceiver Poddy, yes, great book. You know the publisher made him change the end of the book. In the original ending, she dies. Heinlein was never happy about that.

@compoundchem Wow. Thanks for posting that. It's rare to run into a post focused on a personal niche interest. (I'm a rum aficionado.)

@samiamsam @georgetakei That was my first thought when I read the article.

@caspercdn @georgetakei He's conveniently overlooking the history of blacks in the USA.

Go back to when I was a kid? Hah. No, he wouldn't like it. He wouldn't like it at all and there wouldn't be a damned thing he could do about it. Back then, no amount of wealth or fame would change how whites treated blacks. It was hard core with openly stated rules.

He's a fool.

@HolgerFiallo @georgetakei That's exactly what they are saying.

@rbreich Not strong. Let's put Trump, a much younger Trump if you prefer, into a firefight and video the whole thing.

@GottaLaff What a maroon. True to form tho.

I better not laugh; I won't be able to stop.

@petersuber Yes, an interview with two idiots. And the only reason anyone gives either one a moment of attention is they both inherited money they didn't earn and parlayed it into power.