“We get the politiians we deserve.” People say it so often that it’s a bonafide cliche. But when you think about it, how can that possibly be true in a system that is unresponsive to citizens?
Doubt of the Benefit
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If you’re an ordinary civilian, you can count on prosecutors and police officials to game the system to maximize your punishmen when you commit a crime. If you’re a cop, however, they’ll bend over backwards, even making excuses for you, to make sure you get off the hook.
Freaking Out Over Nothing
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San Bernadino mass shooting; terrorism; 9/11; overreaction; nuke them; nuke ’em; freaking out; terror; Hillary Clinton; 2016 presidential campaign; Ted Cruz; Donald Trump
Explaining the Texas Grand Jury’s Decision in the Sandra Bland Case
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A Texas grand jury has decided not to indict anyone in the death in police custody of Sandra Bland, who was detained and arrested for failure to use her turn signal. Then who killed her?
Sanders, Trumpified
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Donald Trump has hardly spent any of his own money to run his presidential campaign, and is running at the top of the polls as a result of free media coverage. Bernie Sanders, on the other hand, isn’t getting any traction, partly because he doesn’t say anything outrageous. Time to switch it up!
Trumplinka
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Donald Trump flirts with such fascist principles as discriminating against all Muslims on the basis of their religion and mass deportations. These are the kinds of policies that typically lead to concentration camps. The Donald’s death camps will be the classiest ever!
Santa Claus, 2015 Edition
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In an age of melting polar ice caps and banned chimneys, how does Santa Claus argue for himself as a legitimate myth?
Softened Up
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Electoral democracy is a game dominated by diminished expectations. Year after year, we settle for candidates and feel relieved when disaster is averted by the election of a slightly less disastrous, yet still disastrous candidate.
Affirmative Action Keeps Things Interesting
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The Supreme Court may soon rule in favor of an applicant to the University of Texas who claims she was rejected due to race-based affirmative action quotas. While it’s obviously unfair to discriminate against, say, a poor white student, we’re ignoring the broader issue: why is college tuition so expensive in the United States that it’s a scarce resource fought over between people of different races?
Death to the Extremists
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U.S. government officials are gearing up against what they call Islamic “extremism,” declaring extremism and “radicalism” enemies of the state while ignoring the extremism of their own policies.
