I've heard both George Bernard Shaw and Henry James (a friend of Wilde's) compared to him in a very positive way. I've never read Henry James but I've read several of Shaw's plays and would agree. I'd recommend getting a collection of his plays. The best ones I've read are "Man and Superman", "Heartbreak House" and "Pygmalion". As for the rest of the authors I'll mention... the similarity to Wilde may vary, some may even have very dark humor, but I find them all just as amusing (though perhaps in different ways).


Mark Twain has as many (maybe more because he was so prolific) hilarious one-liners and is overall filled with mordant observations. I'd recommend reading Huck Finn, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Letters from the Earth and any of numerous collections of his short stories. I'm sure there's more by him to recommend but that's mostly what I've read. If you're fond of irreverence there's also some good collections of his writings about religion that are very amusing, but he pokes fun of every aspect of society.

P.G. Wodehouse is probably one of your favorite author's favorite authors. He's credited as Douglas Adams chief literary inspiration, and Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens have both written essays on how much they love him. I have collection called "The Most of P.G. Wodehouse" which is a great introduction to him, "Right Ho, Jeeves" and "The Code of the Woosters" are his most well known works. Also, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie starred in a show that adapted stories about two of his characters called "Jeeves and Wooster".

H.L. Mencken might be the most controversial one. Kurt Vonnegut said he was the closest America got to a second Mark Twain. Christopher Hitchens called him "a German nationalist, an insecure small-town petit bourgeois, [...] an antihumanist [..], a man prone to the hyperbole and sensationalism he distrusted in others".(replace German with American and I think Hitchens words apply to himself as well) I agree with them both, actually. I don't like his politics and some of what he says is downright cruel... but the guy knows how to write. He's genuinely funny, even when I disagree with him. The best books to start with for him are The Vintage Mencken and Chrestomathy



Others: Voltaire, (a collection of "Candide and other stories" is the best place to start with him), Jonathon Swift (Gulliver's Travels and any collection of his "best" works are the best place to start) Jerome K. Jerome (Three Men in a Boat) Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide series and Dirk Gently series), Joseph Heller (Catch 22), John Kennedy Toole (Confederacy of Dunces), and Kurt Vonnegut (Everything, starting with Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, and Slaughterhouse 5).

Okay, that was probably a bit more than you were after, but I hope you find some things of value in it.

Hello! I'm a southerner with active ties to Mississippi, I've lived there on and off over the years, but I've also lived lots of other places, including the PNW. Not BC, but Portland, as well as abroad. Currently in Vermont. When in MS, I've mostly lived in the northwestern corner -- basically Memphis, but I've spent some time in the delta as well.

Does Mississippi suck? Well... to some degree, obviously, that's going to depend on your definition of "suck." I'll give you some (of what I consider) positive points first, and then some negatives.

Positives: the culture is thick on the ground in the delta; less so to the eastern side of the state. The stretch running along the Mississippi river, you have to remember, was once effectively the west coast of the US, and the Miss. R. was the single most important transportation thoroughfare in the country. What does that have to do with anything now? Well... not that much. But historically, the Mississippi delta was once quite cosmopolitan, and you can still find vestiges of that in the culture. William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, Willie Morris, Mark Twain; Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, Jim Dickinson, W.C. Handy, some guy named Elvis... Miss. has turned out, per capita, a crazy number of writers and musicians. The food is good, in a heavy, southern kind of way. In spite of the state's reputation (which I wouldn't call undeserved, but perhaps a little simplistic), people are generally very nice and very friendly. If you're into a sort of uncomplicated, laid-back way of living, then I'd think Mississippi could be comfortable.

Having said that -- yeah, it's going to be completely different. Mississippi, in general, is poor, black, and rural. Even Jackson has a sort of rural feel, even while having a lot of issues with urban blight. It's small, it's insular, and it's not that interested in the outside world. And it's fucking hot and muggy -- in the summer it feels like being smothered in a hot, wet wool blanket. And I hope you're okay with ticks and mosquitos. And if you're near the coast, occasionally gators.

Obviously the norm is conservative christianity -- to the point that it doesn't even occur to people that anyone might be any different. The black population is nominally more liberal, but are still deeply religious and just as conservative in many respects. Race is visible in ways that it just isn't in other places -- I wouldn't say that people are in conflict over it any more than they are elsewhere, but it's a much more active social factor than elsewhere. This doesn't mean that (to use the regional parlance) white folks and black folks don't work together and socialize, but in most places in MS there is very much a "white folks part of town" and a "black folks part of town." There are white churches and black churches, white schools and black schools (holy shit, I could tell you a few things about that), there's an upper class and a lower class that run very much along racial lines. I don't know if society is really more segregated down there than it is elsewhere -- up north we talk about race like it doesn't matter or like everything is fine and everyone is happy, even while the divide is still obviously there -- but where it is segregated, everyone is much more open and even accepting of that fact.

In terms of day to day life, there are really only two models: Wal-Mart, and no Wal-Mart. In places where there's no Wal-Mart, you're in a tiny little town that hasn't visibly changed since the 60s, frozen in time. Where there is Wal-Mart, there is only Wal-Mart. It's Big Box stores, or nothing. There's no public sphere (except for Wal-Mart), there's no place to walk around really (except inside the Wal-Mart), when teenagers are bored they go hang out at the Wal-Mart... Wal-Mart is the hub of public life. If you're the fancy type you might do your shopping at Target instead, but even so, you'll feel the influence of Wal-Mart in everything you do.

Your money will go a long way; you'll be expected to keep your lawn in decent shape; people will invite you over for meals and gatherings, but half the time they'll also try to convert you to some form of evangelical, fundamentalist christianity (if you haven't been already.) They will not easily take "no" for an answer. Some of them will be defensive about your attitudes toward the south (even if you haven't actually displayed any), but others will be really interested in your background. If you look, you'll be able to find other people who understand where you're coming from. But you might have to look hard, and be patient.

Personally, I love Mississippi... but I love it most from a safe distance. I sometimes think that I really should move back, to the south if not to Mississippi specifically, because how can we expect things to change there if everyone who thinks outside the southern norm flees for more progressive places? But then I think about everything I'd have to deal with down there -- the religion, the politics, the grinding generational poverty all around me, the resistance to change, the cultural defensiveness, the self-destructive urge for southerners to fuck themselves over in the name of Jesus or Reagan or whatever, and I'm like, "fuck that bullshit."

Feel free to ask if you have specific questions. Also, I think the Bitter Southerner is a really good source for an intelligent, progressive, sometimes conflicted but generally affectionate take on modern southern culture. Other things to check out are Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus and Deer Hunting with Jesus

You want more good times, in book form? Franken has a shitload of fun reads eviscerating the right wing. He's good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like him.

http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/B003IWYKW6/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y

http://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Big-Fat-Idiot/dp/0440508649/ref=pd_cp_b_0

http://www.amazon.com/The-Truth-jokes-Al-Franken/dp/B004JU1SMG/ref=pd_cp_b_1

Also, he can draw a map of the USA from memory, free hand, perfectly, in 90 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk

Fanboy out.

The last time a major political party died was the Whigs in the lead up to the Civil War. The Whig Party broke apart on the question of slavery. Northern factions became more anti-slavery, while Southern factions refused to abandon slavery. The Party could not contain these contradictory ideas, so it lost support and quickly found its members deserting the Whig Party for alternatives.

As the former Whigs began to abandon their party, new political parties appeared to take them in. Those parties included: the Free Soil Party, the American Party (sometimes known as the 'know-nothing' party) and the Republican Party. By the election of 1856, the Whigs were gone.

Interestingly enough, the Democratic Party also split on the issue of slavery in 1860, with Northern and Southern factions emerging to nominate their own candidates. However, the Democrats were able to recover after the Civil War and continue to be a major party to this day (of course).

The other major parties that died (The Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, National Republicans kinda) weren't really political parties in the sense that we understand them. They were more alliances of elites competing against each other, as opposed to mass mobilizing voters. The Federalists died largely as a result of the total victory of the Democratic-Republicans and the Democratic-Republicans also died largely as a result of their victory, leading to the somewhat party-less period known as the 'Era of Good Feelings.'

All the other parties you mention were minor parties that were either formed as result of a brief split from the major parties (Southern Democrats) or as a the result of a single influential man creating the party as a platform to run on (the Progressive Party).

In a sense the only true major political party that has died was the Whig Party.

So now comes the real question, why has there not been another party collapse in the 150 or so years after the Civil War? Why have we stuck to the Democrat/Republican divide, even as those parties have changed radically both in supporters and in issues?

The answer is that absent an issue so divisive as that it literally led to civil war, parties are pretty damn durable. Every time a major challenger to the two parties has emerged (such as the Progressive Party in 1912), one or both of the two parties have adjusted themselves and their issues to try to be welcoming to those voters and issues. Thus the Democratic Party moves from being a small government party in the 19th century, to being a progressive party in the early 20th to being the party of the New Deal in the mid-20th century.

In America's two party system, which is reinforced by our first-past-the-post system of elections, parties should be viewed less as solid ideological actors and more as alliances of disparate interests that come together in order to seek political advantage. Thus you have labor and environmentalists largely in the same party, not because those two views are immediately reconcilable, but because it is an advantageous political alliance. When those alliances break down, groups may switch from one party to another (something called 'realignment'). Thus the two parties survive, even as supporters and issues may change.

This is quickly veering into the realm of a political science discussion, so I'll just end here with a few quick answers to your questions.

1. The final years of the Whig Party were the chaotic years leading up to the Civil War.
   
2. The Whigs kept nominating war heroes in an attempt to find consensus
   
3. Lots of new minor parties and the Civil War
   
   Sources:
   https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Cry-Freedom-Civil-War/dp/019516895X
   https://www.amazon.com/John-Quincy-Adams-American-Visionary/dp/0061915416/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
   https://www.amazon.com/Bully-Pulpit-Theodore-Roosevelt-Journalism-ebook/dp/B00BAWHPX2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468985270&sr=1-1&keywords=bully+pulpit+doris+kearns+goodwin#nav-subnav
   https://www.amazon.com/Presidential-Campaigns-George-Washington-Bush/dp/0195167163
   

Autogenerated.

MILO will be joining us TOMORROW at 7:00 PM EDT for an AMA!

MILO will be joining us TOMORROW at 7:00 PM EDT for an AMA!

Milo needs no introduction. After nearly a year, Milo Yiannopoulos is BACK for his SECOND AMA here on /r/The_Donald. Here's a message from Milo himself:

>Hello, darlings! Yes, it’s true… THE BITCH IS BACK. While I've been away forming my new $12m company MILO Inc.—and shopping, and doing my hair, and laughing at the idea of a Chelsea Clinton presidential run—the forces of political correctness and Leftist demagoguery have continued to work tirelessly to take down our President and dismantle the Western values we cherish so dearly. But enough is enough. It is time for me to rejoin the fight.

>It’s true that I have an upcoming tour in the works, a book that shot to number one on Amazon within a day of being announced and a media venture dedicated to the destruction of the progressive left… but it’s not all about me! What I really want to know is: what's been on YOUR minds? And how should I spend all that money? Do you want me to focus on Islam… or abortion? Black Lives Matter… or defunding the entire American higher education system?

>Join me for an AMA this SUNDAY, JUNE 11 at 7:00pm ET on The_Donald. Until then… stay fabulous!

• Check out MILO on Facebook.
  
  
• MILO's YouTube.
  
  
• Order MILO's new book, DANGEROUS.
  
  
  

  Everyone prepare your questions and get ready for /u/yiannopoulos_m's second AMA!
  

  
  
  
  -----------------------------------------------------------
  
  IamAbot_v01. Alpha version. Under care of /u/oppon.
  Comment 1 of 1
  Updated at 2017-06-11 10:14:06.594193
  
  This is the final update to this thread

>Open honest discourse, not self centered shit flinging banter.

*****
"Open honest discourse" has never, ever been part of politics in the history of politics.

Paul Boller's very good book (very readable) Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush does a great job at showing how US presidential campaigns have always had an incredible amount of mudslinging.

Honestly campaigns of today are tame compared to one in the past.

This book should be required reading prior to being able to post in /r/politics

The Vintage Mencken

Brain Rules

The Road

If you like sports at all Friday Night Lights, Ball Four and Moneyball are amazing reads. World War Z and Zombie Survival Guide is pretty interesting. Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes is an awesomely fun read set in the golden age of piracy, and if you like noir/hard boiled detective stuff, Richard Stark's Parker series, starting with The Hunter, is outstanding.

[Links provided just to show you exactly what I'm talking about.]

Books:

• Daily Show Presents: Earth
  http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Show-Stewart-Presents-Earth/dp/044657922X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419353914&sr=8-1&keywords=daily+show+book
  
  
• Daily Show Presents: America
  http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stewart-Presents-America-Teachers/dp/0446691860/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419353914&sr=8-2&keywords=daily+show+book
  
  
• The Untold History of the United States
  http://www.amazon.com/Untold-History-United-States/dp/1451613520/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419353994&sr=8-2&keywords=oliver+stone+untold+history
  
  DVDs/BluRay:
  
  
• The Job [Dennis Leary TV show, pre-Rescue Me]
  http://www.amazon.com/Job-Complete-Denis-Leary/dp/B0007NN6JC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419354128&sr=8-1&keywords=leary+the+job
  
  
• Any Bill Burr / George Carlin / Bill Hicks DVD
  
  
• Broad City Season 1
  
  
• The Whitest Kids U Know [Any Season]
  
  
• Lucky Louie
  http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Louie-Complete-First-Season/dp/B000KF0DFM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419354290&sr=8-2&keywords=Louie+hbo
  
  
• The Ricky Gervais Show
  http://www.amazon.com/Ricky-Gervais-Show-Season/dp/B0049AF6UG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419354325&sr=8-1&keywords=ricky+gervais+show
  
  
• An Idiot Abroad
  http://www.amazon.com/Idiot-Abroad-Box-Set-Blu-ray/dp/B005F30FXE/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1419354325&sr=8-6&keywords=ricky+gervais+show
  
  
  
  Finally, if he doesn't have a record player, that could be a big item purchase. You can get a solid record player for around $100-$125. Go for one that doesn't come with built-in speakers but don't go so expensive as DJ-style turntables. (Audio-Technica is a great brand for middle of the road players. I've been using a $125 Audio-Technica for years and it's perfect.) Then, get him a carbon fiber brush around $10 (e.g. http://www.amazon.com/Pfanstiehl-Deluxe-No-Static-Record-Cleaning/dp/B00D8DYQM4/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419354469&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=vinyl+brush+carbonfiber) and one or two records he would like. (If there are no good record places in the mall, try Hot Topic. They will sometimes have cool records.)
  

Mark Steel's Viva la Revolution: A Stand Up History of the French Revolution I absolutely loved it. For someone who doesn't read history very often this was a very palatable and entertaining read. They guys a comedian too so it's a pretty funny book too.

I always suggest in these type of threads:

"The racist guide to the people of South Africa" by Simon Kilpatrick

It is an funny and easy read that boils down all the stereotypes of all the different people in South Africa. It is not a racist book, it is just very observant of all the major local cultures here. Like all stereotypes, not everybody is like that but you will spot the observations here and there. What I love about the book is that it is very innocent in it's approach and doesn't hold back with the observations. I was offended with Afrikaners section, but on a second thought I was laughing on how the author nailed it.

Michael Knowles is one of the DailyWire podcasters. He wrote a best selling book called " Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide " where he has an entire book of blank pages except for some chapter openings like "economy" "foreign policy" and of course the bibliography.

He's picked on by Ben Shapiro and Andrew Klavan where they tease him constantly and make fun of him, but it's all in good fun. Typical guy stuff.

But because of the teasing, Michael Knowles is sort of a discount Ben Shapiro and Ben would probably add "a heavy discount me. So heavy it's basically free".

For those interested in this kind of Russian Humour throughout the modern day age of Russia I can highly recommend this book Its written in a fun style and has mostly interesting jokes and the history behind them.

For being British, Greg Palast makes a great American investigative reporter.

My introduction to him was his excellent book;

“The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” - about corporate influence of the U.S. Congress.

You can start by finding out who your representatives are here.

Learn about what each office does and what they are responsible for.

What issues are you most concerned with? Taxes? Healthcare? Unemployment? etc. How has your represented responded to these issues (i.e. voting record)?

If you're a student in university, it may be helpful to take an intro political science class. If not, hopefully, some redditors can suggest some good reading for you.

Some websites or news programs that I find helpful in getting some info are NPR, BBC Worldnews, Al-Jazeera and Euronews. I'm not a fan of local news programming. I read a lot online for the local stuff.

You may enjoy The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report. They're comedy shows but they tend to show the absurdities of it all. You can a learn a lot too. Sometimes, I enjoy the roundtable discussions on Real Time with Bill Maher. I've gone as far as to purchase some books based on the discussions they've had.

I can't recommend books for "getting to know politics" per se, but a few in my collection include that I found informative:

The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria


The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein


Ghost Wars by Steve Coll


The Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse


Politics of the Veil by Joan Wallach Scott


Voices of Freedom vol. 1 & 2 by Eric Foner


Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken




The Parliament of Man by Paul Kennedy

I found them enlightening and some gave me a clearer look at the workings of government and politics in America. Some stuff you have to take with a grain of salt. Checking the references from anything you read is helpful imo. Hope this helps a little.

The NYTimes keeps to the tradition of putting books into categories that their respective authors establish. That is why the Obama Diaries were also put into the nonfiction portion, even though it was satire, the author "kept" with the story it was nonfiction. Thus, if you wrote a book about your encounter with unicorns and it became a best-seller, and you said it was true, they would probably put it in the nonfiction section.

tl;dr It is the tradition of the NYTimes to follow author's means rather than to subjectively critique every book and create a definite truth.

Duh...

Deer Hunting With Jesus and What’s The Matter With Kansas are good reads. They explore the reasons people give for voting against their best interests.

Like I said, there are many books you can read if you're interested.

First result on amazon
>In George Washington's Expense Account -- the best-selling expense account in history -- Kitman shows how Washington brilliantly turned his noble gesture of refusing payment for his services as commander in chief of the Continental Army into an opportunity to indulge his insatiable lust for fine food and drink, extravagant clothing, and lavish accommodations. In a close analysis of the document that financed our Revolution, Kitman uncovers more scandals than you can shake a Nixon Cabinet member at -- and serves each up with verve and wit.

I think this book can really help liberals in your situation decide how to vote. Really exhaustively researched, it just lays the full case out for you and yet you can easily finish it in one sitting.

Hope that helps.

I used to have shitty internet arguments with a liberal democrat on a local forum board back around 2000-2005. We met for drinks a few times. Couldn't tolerate his politics but he was a decent human being. It wasn't until he died a few years ago that I found out he was a published author, among other things. One of his books dealt specifically with how democrats had abandoned the white working class and didn't understand them. Sadly, guys like Joe Bageant are few and far between, and the only reason Joe saw the problems that have led to the democrats current woes in middle America was because of the time and place he was born and lived. So you're probably right in general when you say "liberal democrats" (even though I'm sure you're joking), but I'd hope there's still a few people like Joe around who are traditionally liberal and don't just use their politics to virtue signal their superiority over "those people" in the backwater parts of the country.

Joe Bageant's Deer Hunting With Jesus makes a pretty good case for why the poor rural people still vote Republican, against their own interests.

It's a good read, too.

eta: this post brought to you by the ponderings on the "base that is going down with the ship" in this thread.

I am emphatically not trying to start a political debate here, so /u/peasantcore please feel free to censor this comment if need be, but without commenting one way or another on his Luther biography, I think that including Metaxas on our reading list might cause problems because of his recent forays into overt American political commentary over the past few years (examples here and here). Rightly or wrongly, seeing his name on the list will likely be interpreted by many people as an endorsement of his political views.

Again, I'm not arguing one way or another that that's right or fair. Just pointing out that I could easily see it causing controversy.

America (The Book) it's a little dated, but the best textbook on the subject I've ever read.

John Stewart actually has a faux Civics Class textbook: America: The Book. Don't let it fool you though, while packed with humor it actually does a surprisingly good job at explaining things.

I say that because that's the exact answer a tea party type would give. In fact that's exactly what the Tea Party types said.

> Trump is about corruption

Issa says Obama administration is 'one of most corrupt'

​

> and our identity as a country

How we see our country and our role as citizens will either lead us to protect, defend, and nurture her—or sit idly by as our precious heritage slips away.

​

​

And yes I do, but it's boring important things.

​

For anyone interested, there's a good book that details some of the factors involved in this rural oddity of voting against ones own interests. It's called Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from Americas Class War.

The Michael Knowles thing is sort of an inside joke for people who listen to his podcast. Knowles published a completely blank book called "Reasons to Vote for Democrats," and it became a bestseller. Shapiro jokes constantly on his show about how he and Klavan feel like fools for actually writing words for their books all this time after seeing his success.

Are you kidding me? That video was hilarious. Even if it's axiomatically true that the left can't meme, they hit that one out of the park.

this book must be working.

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

It gives a lot of insight into why everything is how it is currently. It goes more after Bush Jr (because he was president when the book was written) but also goes after people like ENRON, Clinton, Cheney, etc.

Definitely a pun, and a fairly old one, probably popularized by this book: http://www.amazon.com/Stewart-Presents-America-Teachers-Edition/dp/0446691860#reader_0446691860

https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

One of Shapiro's employees wrote a book called "Reasons to Vote for Democrats". The joke is that the book is entirely blank. Despite that, it rocketed to the top of amazon and gained a presidential endorsement.

Outside the increasing numbers of people using the blogsphere as an information source, these two books apply best.

I Am America (And So Can You!)

America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Earth - Jon Stewart

Also if you like that America is good.

The best democracy money can buy. Read it, I have reddit...

I really wish someone other than Vox day would, effectively, re-write this book. His name has so much baggage that you can't just hand a copy out to normies.

​

Looking at his related books... (Holy shit, linking these are a nightmare due to Amazon's tracking buillshit in the URLs)

https://smile.amazon.com/So-Youve-Been-Publicly-Shamed-ebook/dp/B00L9B7IRC/

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Trump-SJWs-Alinskys-Radicals-ebook/dp/B01JFOM1LM/

https://smile.amazon.com/Social-Justice-Warrior-Handbook-Millennials-ebook/dp/B074N6968P/

https://smile.amazon.com/Bullies-Culture-Intimidation-Silences-Americans-ebook/dp/B008GULMDK/

https://smile.amazon.com/New-Church-Ladies-Extremely-Uptight-ebook/dp/B06VVHV1DX/

​

Nothing short and to the point, but some good stuff there for normies to read.

Deer Hunting With Jesus did a great job explaining this phenomena.

1. This is an opinion, not advice
   
2. All this opinion is doing is proliferating the idiotic notion that "TV is fun entertainment, and books are boring learning." Books can be terrible or extremely entertaining. And TV can be boring or educational.
   
3. ???
   
4. Profit.

Perhaps I can interest you in Reasons to Vote Democrat: A Comprehensive Guide.

For those interested, Hammer & Tickle is a documentary about Soviet/Russian political jokes. The director also wrote a book with the same title.

I thought this was the perfect amount of PC overdone.

This isn't the first time something like that has happened. George Washington didn't want a salary as the first President of the United States. Instead, he just wanted an expense account. And boy, did he get it. He went nuts with the money, buying everything from booze, horses, spies, lavish parties, even ice cream (can you imagine how expensive ice cream was in colonial America?). There's an interesting book on the subject:

https://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Expense-Account-Washington/dp/0802137733

It's been years since I read it, but I think the final sum was over 300k, a mind boggling amount of money back then.

This should cover politics pretty well.

You might enjoy this (assuming you haven't come across it before):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/002542730X/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link

I'm proud to call Al Franken my Senator. Also he is hilarious.

Just thought of another: Vive la Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Revolution by Mark Steel. His radio lectures and TV documentaries on historical figures are funny too.

http://www.amazon.com/Stewart-Presents-America-Teachers-Edition/dp/0446691860

It's a good read.

For those who are curious, Milo's "Dangerous" has around 25K sales between hardcover and kindle editions.

Zoe Quinn's "Crash Override" has around 1500 sales between hardcover and kindle.

Grim Jim's "Inside GamerGate" has around 230 sales between paperback and kindle.

All of these numbers taken from novelrank, which pretty much only cares about Amazon sales (ignoring all brick and mortar sales, sales direct from the publisher, and kickstarter/patreon/whatever preorders).

Nothing. I didn't say I had solutions. I've read enough books that have left me with nothing but disdain for our democracy. I see no solution to it. Read Parliament of Whores or the Vintage Mencken if you want insight into how someone can feel this way about our political system.

DAE feel the need to start every comment in this sub with "I'm not a Trumper, but..."

BTW: I'm not a Trumper, but... in celebration of the 4th and free speech I'll buy a couple copies of Milo's book that is coming out on Tuesday if I can find a way to give away copies of the e-book without doxxing myself. If it works out, who's interested?

Only if you read this one... It might take you a while but I'm certain you can get through it with a thesaurus.

I'll be right back.... Got to order a book
....

Spez: will be delivered on July 4 😀

holy sh*t you read this didn't you

Also please don't kink shame sweetie, do better

I would, but I've never heard an argument against it. I'm not aware of any compelling (or even uncompelling) reason why it shouldn't be. That said, "Because THEY don't want poor people to vote" is not necessarily a jerkoff answer. Not to assign reading, but Greg Palast has written a lot about how laws determining who gets to vote and who doesn't actually have a great deal of influence on the outcome of elections.

want some humor then try America by Jon Stewart

Book Link (It's Blank)

All discussion is welcomed.

Tl;Dr Maybe this is too much of a meta-reccomendation, but I think for historical comprehension meta dealings are of invaluable worth.

For my bachelor thesis I did research on satire and found some interesting material, which I think is especially important for the 'structionalist' grand narrative scholars here who tend to forget singular impact. First of all, there is quite an amusing little book by Lewis, called Hammer and Tickle (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hammer-And-Tickle-Communism-Communist/dp/0753825821), dealing with the kind of humour that exists even during the most ardent of times.

Then you could continue on to a more in-depth book on what the types of criticisms are in Frye's 'Anatomy of criticism' http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Criticism-Essays-Northrop-Frye/dp/0691069999. Frye's book is some terribly harsh reading, but if you can get yourself to continue past the hardship of this, then there are a lot of insights to get from his arguing. What I especially like about Frye is that he is in himself a philosopher as were the ones we study through a lot of history.

When done with those just sploosh yourself in the archives of your local library, cultural depot, or university and try to find things that are out of the normal way. This will naturally open up ways that you would not think of otherwise.

Archives for the links in comments:

• By Aurondarklord (en.wikipedia.org): http://archive.fo/mIdlv
  
• By mcantrell (smile.amazon.com): http://archive.fo/onw0b
  
  
• By mcantrell (smile.amazon.com): http://archive.fo/ZMRBw
  
  
• By mcantrell (smile.amazon.com): http://archive.fo/BcccR
  
  
• By mcantrell (smile.amazon.com): http://archive.fo/cBwOc
  
  
• By mcantrell (smile.amazon.com): http://archive.fo/N0Rpx
  
• By Kia-Ca-T_D-bot (123rf.com): http://archive.fo/sVvqT
  
• By interfader (campusreform.org): http://archive.fo/oCKSa
  
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This is one of them but if you search amazon for “Donald Trump Children’s Book” you’ll find a lot more.


Donald Drains the Swamp (Donald the Caveman) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1621579387/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_MpeWDbAZA801R

Reasons To Vote For Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide

From the product description: "This book is satirical and is meant as a joke. There are eight words on the first page, a fake quote on the last and a bunch of 'keks' in between. It is intended as a gift for humourless, regressive leftists from sensible people who understand internet culture on even the most basic level."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521793573/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499842271&sr=8-1&keywords=Yes+we+can+meme

SO fucking proud!

https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/5y774p/best_timeline_folks_reasons_to_vote_democrat_a


For anyone who hasn't seen, the Product Reviews are off the roof: https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

>I'm gay and wasn't triggered once in the reading of this work. Because I am gay, and have suffered more stuff than you, my opinion is worth 1.53x more. My review should be 7.65 stars and not the cisgendered patriarchal 5 star system...shame Amazon, for shame.

Or better : A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by John Stewart
http://www.amazon.com/America-Book-Citizens-Democracy-Inaction/dp/0446532681

I think a great primer for understanding the way our government works is actually The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction .



It's funny as hell and actually does teach you about civics in the US.

This one helped me a lot to understand it.

https://www.amazon.com/Yes-We-Can-Meme-Progressive-Left/dp/1521793573

They already did

They also wrote "America The Book" A middle school style book about democracy.

You don't remember that page from America (The Book), eh?

Here's an article.

He actually declined payment and took an expense account instead...then blew all of it on anything and everything.

http://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Expense-Account-Washington/dp/0802137733

https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Stewart-Presents-America-Teachers/dp/0446691860

https://www.amazon.com/Yes-We-Can-Meme-Progressive-Left/dp/1521793573

OP's new book

He already is.

He didn't. He did send me Reasons To Vote For Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide yesterday, which made him a target.

I don't know why my link isn't working....

Edit: Ohh, right, reddit is stuck in the 70s when all URLs were required to start with "www", I guess. Added "http://"

Here

And here's one for you...
https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

Nu er man også automatisk registreret i Danmark, samt får tilsendt en stemmeseddel. I USA skal du selv registrere dig under et parti eller uafhængig. Derudover er flere ting som i mange stater kan diskvalificere dig at stemme, så som at være tidligere straffet.

Det er bl.a. derfor der var sådan et ramaskrig under Algore vs Bush, da man fandt ud af dem som stod for registrering af vælgere i Florida (hvor Bush junior bl.a. var involveret) havde slettet sorte vælgere for vælgerlisterne (man er registreret med race også) ved at hævde at de var tidligere straffet hvis de havde samme initial til fornavn, samt samme efter navn - eg. John E. Jansen er tidligere straffet i en anden stat, men vi sletter altså John Jansen fra stemmeregisteret, da han er markeret som sort.

​

Dette blev selvfølgelig gjort da sorte overvejende stemmer demokratisk. Dette er ikke en "konspirationsteori" men er enormt veldokumenteret.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Democracy-Money-Can-Buy/dp/0452285674

​

https://thebestdemocracymoneycanbuy.com/

​

It's totally blank! Total MOAB dropped on dems! https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

Thats almost a one for one knock off of this.

http://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Expense-Account-Washington/dp/0802137733

Answer: read "Deer Hunting With Jesus."

http://www.amazon.com/Deer-Hunting-Jesus-Dispatches-Americas/dp/0307339378/ref=sr_1_1

America (The Book).

A relevant book from the same author.

Try America the book by John Stewart.

America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Yes they can meme

Put this down and get John Stewart's book.

The Comments Tho' https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/product-reviews/1543024971/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_hist_5?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=avp_only_reviews&sortBy=recent&filterByStar=five_star&pageNumber=1

You could change the title of this book by replacing "Democrats" with "Hillary" and no doubt sell more books.

https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

The reviews still make me laugh!

There are some different views on how well GW dealt with money and his expense account during his years of leading the army. Some feel that congress insisted he be paid instead of just having his expenses paid due to his use of his expense account during the war.

Please see
http://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Expense-Account-Washington/dp/0802137733

http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/washington/

Basically he made about 10 times as much having his "expenses" paid as he would have is he was paid what he was supposed to be paid as head of the army.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction https://www.amazon.com/dp/0446691860/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_gJsPDbPNAEJKH

9/11 was a direct consequence of an earlier fuckup in the 2000s, we just didn't know it yet.. What really started the 2000s was the beginning of the end of the american empire by the unravelling of the irrational exhuberance and goodwill inherent in America's particular version of capitalism.

If you liked the joke, you'll love the one-star reviews by humorless Dems. A sampling:

> What a scam; Amazing that Amazon sells this book. Total rip off!!! Don't buy book with blank pages.

> Misleading, supposedly a joke but just stupid. Blank pages so you are essentially writing your own book.I expected witty, humorous comments. A total copout.

> I am concerned because the joke perpetuates a myth which I believe is very damaging to our democracy. It is the myth that it doesn't matter which party is in office, so why bother to vote. The events of the last two months make it abundantly clear that elections have consequences and it makes a world of difference which party is in power.

> Stupid empty book

I don't know - I do talk to more conservatives because of my hobby (guns) than most Seattle people - and this is not a vibe I sense.

What I do see is this.

Most "rednecks" - rural conservatives - are actually rather poor. Not that much better off than your typical urban poor in your typical inner city (https://www.amazon.com/Run-Fugitive-Life-American-City/dp/1250065666 - we don't really have this around here but I did live in Phila once).

But they have to work to keep above water, and these are often not very pleasant jobs - like, you know, picking up trash, maintenance works, etc. Occasionally these maintenance jobs are in government projects.

So they do resent the fact that THEY get almost no help from the government - but the inner city poor do.

And I can see some truth to that - I was on welfare once and moving from welfare to min wage employment made no financial sense - I would get the same amount of money, but no healthcare, for example.

But I have never seen this resentment extending to children.

EDIT: this is another good book on this phenomenon: https://www.amazon.com/Deer-Hunting-Jesus-Dispatches-Americas/dp/0307339378

pathetic spin.

the book is called "Reasons To Vote For Democrats" by Michael J. Knowles.
Here you go: https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Vote-Democrats-Comprehensive-Guide/dp/1543024971

Read "Deer Hunting with Jesus."

This book is terrifyingly relevant considering the times. It was written in 2007 and the author, Joe Bageant, essentially laid out how the financial catastrophe of the past several years was going to go down and its root causes, far before they took place. It also gives major insight into the actual reasons religion and politics seem to work together and people seem to vote the way they do for things!

http://www.amazon.com/Deer-Hunting-Jesus-Dispatches-Americas/dp/0307339378/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318775623&sr=8-1

It's not certain yet that his elections weren't both stolen. [Greg Palast] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Democracy-Money-Can/dp/0452285674) broke the Florida tale, but revelations suggest, [Ohio] (http://my.firedoglake.com/papau/2011/07/26/audits-and-proof-that-bush-stole-2004-ohio-and-election-coming-out/) was stolen in the second election, too.

Right-wingers seem to protest in the dumbest ways.

Destroying already paid for items, or buying a book with blank pages.

> Premise 1: Americans don't want gun control, because they are afraid to lose their right to protect themselves.

For obvious reasons, nobody knows exactly how many illegal/unregistered guns are in circulation in the US, but for sake of argument let's say it's a number equivalent to 1% of the c. 280 million legal and registered guns in the country - that would make 2.8 million firearms unaccounted for and that are presumably in possession of people who want to use them for criminal purposes (e.g. a robbery) or to defend themselves from competitors in illicit activities (e.g. the narcotics trade).

With that in mind, is it really just a case of selfish interest that makes some Americans want to keep hold of the right to buy and own legal firearms?

Gun death rates tend to be at their highest in urban areas and (apparently) illegal firearms are far more often used in these cases than legally bought ones.

And there's another point - have you ever read Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War? In that book, Bageant (the author) points out that in rural areas - often places where the recession has hit hardest - guns are used for hunting and when economic times are hard, hunting can literally put food on the table. You shoot the deer, take the deer to a place where you can get it sliced up, take it home and pack it in the deep freeze until you need it.

So here you have a situation where the people who are most likely to own a gun legally for a legitimate (and even necessary) purpose live in rural areas with few job opportunities, whereas the people who are most likely to own an illegal or unregistered gun for a criminal purpose are far more likely to be in an urban area.

If you were to try to introduce gun control across the whole country, it appears that that would leave people in urban areas more vulnerable to robbery and assault by armed criminals and people in rural areas would have to resort to alternative weapons for hunting such as crossbows. So in one fell stroke, you have made life even harder for the rural poor for whom it will now be much harder to hunt deer (they need to be at closer range, a single hit may only wound an animal but not stop it bleed it out) while giving a significant advantage to criminals over unarmed citizens in urban areas.

Is it really justified to describe wanting to keep hold of guns as selfish?

> Premise 2: People of pro-gun control countries want gun control, because they value (the fact) that gun control dramatically reduces the number of murders, mass shootings, suicides etc.

I think you're right that strict gun control laws such as they have in the UK or Australia would severely reduce the annual number of gun deaths as well as mass shootings such as happened in Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech and that is a very strong - probably the strongest argument - for tighter gun control laws.

However, as I've mentioned in the foregoing I think to do this you would need to accept that urban areas with high crime rates would be extremely adversely affected by such a change - what stores are going to be willing to remain open that cannot legally arm themselves? Or if they can legally hire armed security guards, how much does that cost and how much of that cost will be passed onto the customers (who are likely to be financially very hard up already)? And what impact would it have on such an area if the majority of stores, restaurants and other businesses simply closed down and moved out of those zones altogether?