no. 1137

 “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government…”

Patrick Henry

no. 1136

 “If I had explain American history in one sentence, I could do worse than ‘John Brown was hung for treason, but Robert E. Lee was not’.”

Jessica Ritchey (@jmritchey.bsky.social)

no. 1135

 "It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings...[When] a king seeks to bestride the people of his own nation, it is the same tyrannical principle."

 Abraham Lincoln

no. 1134

The original Monopoly was invented by a woman in 1904 to highlight the dangers of unchecked capitalism, she was told her concept was too complex, then the idea was stolen.

Long before Monopoly became a family game-night staple, it was a pointed critique of economic inequality. The game was originally created in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie, an American writer, inventor, and staunch supporter of economist Henry George’s ideas about land reform. She called it The Landlord’s Game and designed it to demonstrate how wealth accumulation and rent-seeking concentrated power in the hands of a few while impoverishing everyone else.

Magie patented the game in 1904, including two rule sets: one where players competed to monopolize property and another where everyone benefited equally from shared wealth — a direct moral lesson about the difference between greed and fairness. She hoped it would teach players that monopolies harm society.

Years later, Charles Darrow encountered a version of Magie’s game, modified and circulating informally among friends and communities. He sold it to Parker Brothers in the 1930s, claiming it as his own invention. The company bought Magie’s patent for just $500 and erased her name from history. Monopoly went on to become one of the best-selling board games of all time — ironically celebrating the very capitalist spirit it was meant to criticize.

Added Fact: Elizabeth Magie’s original 1904 patent for The Landlord’s Game remains one of the earliest known board game patents filed by a woman in the United States.

From the Facebook group “Historyfeels”

no. 1133

 "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower" 

– Albert Camus

Painting by Robert Moore - "Autumn Joy" 

(5 x 4 ft, oil on canvas - 2017)

no. 1132

A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.

Thomas Paine

no. 1131

from They Knew by Sarah Kendzior

 

no. 1130

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

André Gide

no. 1129

 "When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." 

Lin Yutang, writer and translator (10 Oct 1895-1976)

no. 1128

“The Trump administration isn’t just failing Americans. It’s failing MAGA, too.

The proof is in the data. And once you see it, you’ll wonder how a single Republican still supports Trump, and why Trump hasn’t fired every member of his cabinet for negligence and incompetence. Because they’re the ones whispering loyal-sounding lies into his ears.

First, right now his primary focus is:

Invading blue cities and states with the National Guard,

Spending billions to chase undocumented immigrants with no criminal record, while 78% of Americans believe undocumented immigrants with no criminal record should have a pathway to citizenship,

Forcing indictments of James Comey and Leticia James, and pursuing people like Adam Schiff to inflict criminal consequences built on superficial emotional grievances,

Forcing tariffs down our throats—not just on China, but on our best trading partners like Canada, Mexico, and Brazil,

And firing not just federal workers who aren’t loyal to him, but allowing Hegseth fire members of the military who aren’t loyal to the Trump agenda.

Now let’s go back to a Pew Research poll from November 2024 where Trump voters were asked how he should govern. You know what they said?

And please remember, this is only Trump voters.

58% of them said it would not be acceptable to fire any federal workers, at any level, for not being personally loyal to Trump,

58% also said it would not be acceptable for Trump to pardon friends, family, or political supporters who were convicted of crimes,

42% said it would not be acceptable to govern with executive orders if he can’t get his policies through Congress,

and 46% said it would not be acceptable for Trump to order federal law enforcement to investigate democratic political opponents.

And I cannot emphasize this enough: these are only people who had just voted for Trump.

But because of his brain rot advisors, his entire first year has been nothing more than a laundry list of everything no one wanted, while we bleed good jobs, while prices continue to climb, while Russia does whatever they want to our allies, and while states’ rights are under attack by the federal government.

If you’re one of these Republicans, don’t let them gaslight you.

You were right.

They were terrible ideas then, and they’re even worse now, because his incompetent administration, focused more on loyalty and cruelty than prosperity, finds a way to make bad ideas even worse with its circus sideshow execution.

I remain convinced that millions of Republicans just wanted lower prices and better pay. Just like all of us.

They just got conned. Because Trump surrounded himself with fools and monsters, and because he doesn’t have the judgment to know when to fire them, or how to function without them.”

John Good

no. 1127

 “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”

André Gide

no. 1126

 For living beings like us who live for only around 100 years and die, there’s the need for something that connects the past and the future.

Fortunately, people have writing.

When only relying on passing it down orally, there’s always the fear of turning it vague and changing the past and thinking it is the reality. 

By recording it in books, a lot of knowledge can remain into the future. 

That’s why books must not be disposed of like old tools and unnecessary things, and the people who are in charge of them must be specialists.

Therefore, libraries and librarians are necessary, and even librarians shouldn’t be choosing which books are useful and which are useless.

But well, it is true that there’s a limit to how many books a library can hold.

So there will be selectiveness by necessity though.

If reality could be ignored and we could take ideals, librarians would definitely want to have an infinite collection.

It goes without saying, but the action of deeming a book unnecessary or burning it because it is of a specific genre or ideology is not a good thing.

Azumi Kei, from the web novel Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu

no. 1125

 "We've got a great percentage of our population that, to our great shame, either cannot or, equally unfortunate, will not read. And that portion of our public is growing. Those people are suckers for the demagogue."

Walter Cronkite (1916 - 2009)

no. 1124

 "A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It is a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting & rashness & other signs of insecurity." 

President Jimmy Carter

no. 1123

 “It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”

 Jane Goodall

no. 1122

 "I keep reading that film studios are contemplating replacing writers and actors by using Artificial Intelligence to mimic their talents."

"Surely it would be easier and more efficient to replace executives, since they have no talent at all."

John Cleese

no. 1121

 "It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives."

Lyndon Blaine’s Johnson responding to an apology from the Smothers Brothers. 

no. 1120

 “Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people in to the discussion. That’s why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.”

Brendan Carr, just 3 years before he became FCC chair and censored Jimmy Kimmel

no. 1119

 "Laws are like ice cream: easily melted"

A line from the film “The Wannsee Conference”

no. 1118