Weekend link dump for October 9

“Donald J. Trump has a cruel streak. He willfully causes pain and distress to others. And he repeats this public behavior so frequently that it’s fair to call it a character trait. Any single example would be off-putting but forgivable. Being shown many examples across many years should make any decent person recoil in disgust.”

A great interview with Deborah Lipstadt, who successfully defended herself and her publisher in a slander lawsuit brought by Holocaust denier David Irving. Well worth the read.

“A federal appeals court has overturned a law that banned New Hampshire voters from taking and posting selfies of their marked ballots.”

Women’s magazines are a lot more serious about politics these days.

The Social Security trust fund is greatly bolstered by taxes paid by undocumented immigrants.

Jon Lester != Lester Holt. Just so we’re clear.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, we need to see Trump’s tax returns. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that we’ve been more in need of seeing Trump’s tax returns than any president in American history.”

“In a sense, then, the need to perceive ourselves as radically different really does distinguish us from most others around us. They want to see the world getting better, and to contribute to that progress, reform and improvement. But we wind up wanting to see the world get worse — to see all attempts at progress, reform and improvement fail or backfire. That is a radical difference, but it’s not a good one.”

Who knew there were so many millionaires among Mitt Romney’s 47 percent?

RIP, Norma Jean Bauerschmidt, whose obit you need to read to appreciate why I’m memorializing her here. Also, too, this picture, which is full of awesome.

“I walked to my mailbox and spotted a manila envelope, postmarked New York, NY, with a return address of The Trump Organization. My heart skipped a beat.”

“Is Marla Maples the Trump Tax Return Leaker?”

RIP, Naomi Kaplan Warren, Holocaust survivor, businesswoman, and philanthropist.

The case against Gary Johnson. Which, it should be noted, his running mate seems to grasp.

What’s the point of having the league’s best pitcher if you never get around to using him in the most important game your team has played this season? And having said that, here’s one possible explanation for why.

” I’m eager to hear from Donald Trump and the Republican Party why this is an outrageous offense against the free market right of prepaid card vendors to scam users out of the maximum possible amount of money in the form of exorbitant fees and interest on unwanted loans.”

Donald Trump is a divisive force in NFL locker rooms.

“The rise in total murders in 2015 and 2016 is alarming, but these totals can vary widely from year to year, so it makes more sense to evaluate trends over the medium and long term instead of concentrating on short-term jumps or drops. Murder is more prevalent than it was two years ago and about as prevalent as it was seven or eight years ago, but the current decade is still safer than any other decade on record.”

“Mr. Kaine stammered and interrupted, but remained essentially honest. Mr. Pence lied calmly and well.”

“Trump’s boorishness threatens to make Pence’s radical attacks on women’s health seem moderate and reasonable by comparison. And that’s dangerous.”

RIP, Rocky Kalish, writer for many, many classic TV shows.

RIP, Rod Temperton, composer of “Thriller”.

“Anti-Semitism, like racism, isn’t a matter of what you feel but what you do.”

There’s basically no way to get Donald Trump off the ballot now. It’s just a matter of who chooses to go down with him. Though it’s not clear that his “grab her pussy” remarks will change the minds of too many people.

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