A little fun with all the political drama going on right now… Stephen Colbert goes to the two conventions as the character “Julius Flickerman” (brother of “Caesar Flickerman” from The Hunger Games with his pet weasel Caligula
History made this week. Even if Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn’t win the election in November, she is still the first woman to secure the nomination of a major political party as a presidential candidate. (I emphasized that part because she is not actually the first woman to run for president, as various people have been pointing out all week.)
Yeah… no. In her beautiful speech at the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama pointed out that she lives in a house that was built using slave labor. Fixed FOX News pundit Bill O’Reilly disputed this, mansplaining and whitesplaining to the First Lady that they were well-fed and were local moochers. Hate to break it to you, Bill, but the First Lady is correct. She is backed up by primary source material from Abigail Adams and by the Smithsonian.
If you want a good read on our tendency to whitewash some of the negative effects of slavery and our inability to deal with our society being complicit in it even if some of our ancestors weren’t in the country yet, I recommend this piece by a woman who used to lead tours at a southern plantation.
More fun related to the DNC. Quartz Magazine posted this piece talking about Bill Clinton and his speech on Tuesday night but did it in the style of a puff piece about a woman’s appearance giving the speech rather than the content of it.
Radio Free Babylon for the win! Sometimes Frequently, Coffee with Jesus manages to communicate the truth better than I can articulate it.
Green smoothies. It’s hot here this week (translation: it’s in the 80’s) so I’ve been doing lots of green smoothies for meals because it helps to keep me cool. My recipe: a little bit of whole milk, some Greek yogurt, a handful of frozen fruit and a handful of spinach. Yum.
Something to watch when bored. Have you ever had the urge to watch grizzly bears in Alaska eat salmon and go fishing? Here you go!
For more Quick Takes, visit Kelly at This Ain’t The Lyceum.