In Donna, Texas, deep, deep, in the southern tip o' Texas, to substitute in a special-ed class.

On the last quarter mile before reaching the school, passing by the most majestic paddle cactus trees I have ever seen in my life (I'm not kidding, these cacti were easily 30 feet tall), I went by a modest subdivision right before reaching the school, and noticed the names of the streets:

Lunar, Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, Apollo...

I got a lump in my throat just reading the street signs.

Do not refer to it as "A Secret Society".

You can call it "The group" or "The Guild" or "The Book Club" or "The Breakfast Club"

But YOU DO NOT REFER TO IT AS A SECRET SOCIETY.

Unless you are obviously making a joke about a non existent secret society.

Have you ever thought of who took it?

And the fact that the photographer never appears in the picture?

Look back though your photographic memories and thank the person who thought YOU were important enough to immortalize in a picture.

Here's toast, to the quiet immortalizers of the greatest events of our lives.

The asshole with the pretty eyes.

Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are experts in what makes democracies healthy — and what leads to their collapse. They warn that American democracy is in trouble.

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross, who's off today. If watching President Trump and listening to American political discourse these days makes you feel something's gone wrong, our guests today will tell you it's not your imagination. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent years studying what makes democracies healthy and what leads to their collapse. And they see signs that American democracy is in trouble.

In a new book, they argue that Trump has shown authoritarian tendencies and that many players in American politics are discarding long-held norms that have kept our political rivalries in balance and prevented the kind of bitter conflict that can lead to a repressive state. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are both professors of government at Harvard University. Levitsky's research focuses on Latin America and the developing world. Ziblatt studies Europe from the 19th century to the present. Their new book is called "How Democracies Die."

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/579670528/how-democracies-die-authors-say-trump-is-a-symptom-of-deeper-problems

If only the best qualified are allowed to immigrate to the US, then they will compete only for the best, highest paying jobs available. Leaving the menial jobs, the low paying jobs, the back breaking jobs, for the native born.

Is that really what we want?

How good are you at picking lettuce?

That should be Gödel, but can't have umlauts in thread titles. Oh, well...