Just finished reading
Was it Heaven or Hell by Mark Twain; a pleasant morality tale on the virtues of lying. It is available for download as part of the collection of stories in
The 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories by Mark Twain at
this Gutenberg.org link.
Also finished
Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane by John Amato and David Neiwert. Newart and Amato cover much ground in this book, touching on issues such as the Southern Strategy, the Tea Party phenomenon and how it has morphed into a machine that now threatens to bring down traditional conservatism, biased news coverage, racism, radicalism, the Missouri report commissioned under President Bush, and much more. The following quotes are in no way intended to sum up the entire tenor of the book, but they can perhaps provide a frame of reference to what the book is about
:
.....The thing about right-wing populism is that it’s manifestly self-defeating: Primarily those who stand to benefit from this ideology are the wealthy, which is why they so willingly underwrite it. It might more accurately be called "sucker populism."
..........— John Amato and David Neiwert,
Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane.
.....As we have seen through the long and sordid history of right-wing populism in this country—particularly the way it has relied on scapegoating, smears, conspiracy theories, falsehoods, and unhinging rhetoric, all of which inevitably unleash violent, extremist rage—the foundations of democracy suffer at the hands of these movements.
..........—
ibid.