A good view of the current national political morass

While reading The Statues that Walked* by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo I saw this quote at the beginning of the conclusion chapter.

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us - and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, a world of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who saunters along.

Carl Sagan - The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1955

*a new book about Easter Island that offers a very different explanation of what happened using good scientific methods.