Today, I release my book into the wild! (And if anyone else has one arrive today, by all means post a picture!)

Woot! My copies of the new book has arrived! It won't be in stores until August 5, but preorders are available...

PRESI-DEMENTIA/CON-MANDER-IN-CHIEF/FATTY SHACK/AYATOLLAH COMPLAINI/TANNIBAL LECTER/SCAMMY DAVIS JR./RICH LITTLE HANDS/HIPPOPOTUS/OUR FONDLING FARTER/TRUMPELSTILTSKIN/HUNGRY HUNGRY HYPOCRITE/DICTATOR TOT/UNCLE SCAM/QUID PRO COMBOVER/MANGO MUSSOLINI/FRANCIS FORD GROPE-ALA/ALEXANDER SCAMILTON <the end>

Barack Obama may feel obliged to attend, and frankly, that is his strength and weakness: he always tries to get along. Michelle Obama has no time for this crap.

And I am one! I'm on the T-shirt!
More importantly, I support the National Council for Science Education. So should everyone who wants a scientifically literate populace. They started fighting creationism in the schools, and have added global warming education, and they provide great resources.

I mean, right?

From 2011 data. I should note that more recent data shows an increase, due to anti-vaxxers.

I assess and develop leaders. President Carter is quite correct regarding strong people, and strong leaders.

The most effective leadership brings _everyone_ together for a common purpose. Scapegoating to pit some against others is much easier, but add it up: who _accomplishes_ more? Everyone? Or a subgroup wasting effort attacking the other?
And yeah, this is why inclusion matters, and "populists" aren't.

This is my state. The data are overwhelming for the effectiveness of vaccines. It's worth noting that one of the very first advocates for smallpox inoculation (a proto-vaccine) was Boston's Cotton Mather, back in 1721. How ironic that in 2024 there are people apparently three centuries behind.

Anti-vaxxers are anti-science, and, by the numbers, pro-death. Measles was on its way to becoming extinct. Polio WAS unheard of in this country. The COVID-19 vaccine initiative was _amazingly_ effective. This isn't just a personal matter; anti-vaxxers are making ALL of us more vulnerable.

“...A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel. ...he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men. ...A good ruler has to learn his world’s language, it’s different for every world.”
Dune, by Frank Herbert

Interesting metaphor, and more appropriate than they know. _Handedness_ is not binary: there are many degrees of handedness, depending on how dominant a given hand is. Likewise, gender and sex are on a similar continuum: most people are _mostly_ one orientation but _normally_ not 100%.

I don't CARE what the pundits say. They've contributed to a media culture of creating a "horse race" where none should exist, of creating a false equivalence where none should exist, and they are frantically trying to explain why they have been wrong, wrong, wrong without ever admitting it.