< 0.00001% ("Less than 1 in 10 Million") " The right-leaning Heritage Foundation’s database of confirmed fraud cases lists less than 100 examples of non-citizens voting between 2002 and 2022, amid more than one billion lawfully cast ballots " --Reported on CNN, via link below #CommonplaceBook

Opinion | The big lie of 2024: Illegal immigrant voting

Claiming that noncitizens are voting is the latest form of election denial.

"Don't make it sound nice. It's horrid, it's modern music." --Benjamin Britten in 1963, rehearsing the boy choir for his "War Requiem" premier Such an interesting gloss to an important moment in music history: #Music#CommonplaceBook

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem choir reunites, thanks to local newspaper ad

The boys who sang on Benjamin Britten's historic recording of War Requiem reunite, 61 years later.

[On the occasion of the death of Jerry Falwell, Sr.:] “If you gave Falwell an enema he could be buried in a matchbox.” --Christopher Hitchins [quoted in source below] #CommonplaceBook

When Hitchens Was Good

Christopher Hitchens was a champion detractor, a terrific hater, and always more fun to read when he was denouncing than when he was praising.

"It would be an exaggeration to say that [Trump] lies as easily as he breathes; adults normally breathe 12 to 18 times each minute, whereas Trump, during his recent Mar-a-Lago news conference, uttered around only two lies or distortions a minute." --Paul Krugman, 5 Sept 2024 #CommonplaceBook

Opinion | Bacon Prices and the Windmills of Trump’s Mind

Who you gonna believe, him or your lying eyes?

Said of the leap of faith necessary in a revolution: 'I wonder if you encountered this dictum first spoken by a twentieth-century statesman: "An abyss cannot be crossed in two steps.” ' ― David Mitchell, in his novel "Cloud Atlas" #CommonplaceBook

Mountains Ahead "If we see a mountain in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to take us to the top. No, we put our heads down. We get to work. In America, we do something." --Michelle Obama, to the Democratic National Convention, 20 August 2024 #CommonplaceBook

"Pet Chameleon" ' “We’re going to defeat Donald Trump, the career criminal and incorrigible recidivist con man and his pet chameleon, JD Vance,” [Congressperson Jamie Raskin, D-MD] said [19 August 2024, at the Democratic National Convention].' #CommonplaceBook

'I'll never forget the pounding on the door': Rep. Jamie Raskin evokes Jan. 6 at DNC

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention Monday. Watch his full speech here.

Predictions "Det er vanskeligt at spaa, især naar det gælder Fremtiden." [translated from the Danish:] "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." --often attributed to Niels Bohr, but probably not (known since 1937) #CommonplaceBook

"...the Heritage Foundation these days appears to be all tank, no think." -- @colindickey.com#CommonplaceBook

CDcolindickey.comAug 9, 2024 6:56pm

For the New Republic, my review of Kevin Roberts' "Dawn's Early Light," a disturbing, paranoid manifesto for using brute force to enact widespread cultural change:

Voters Have a Right to Know What Kevin Roberts’s Disturbing Book Says

J.D. Vance wrote the foreword to “Dawn’s Early Light.” The rest of the book outlines an even more troubling vision.

"Tonic Masculinity" “Tim Walz has tonic masculinity." --many voices, but quoted below by Monica Hess, 8 August 2024 #CommonplaceBook

Column | Masculinity’s check-engine light is on. Let Tim Walz have a look.

Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz’s “Midwestern dad vibe” comes with opportunities to rethink a whole tool kit of types.