Tag: #Politics

Posted in #non-fiction

How to Test Negative for Stupid

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

And Why Washington Never Will—A Senator’s Funny and Perceptive Takedown of Washington Politics

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

One of the most distinctive and funny politicians, Senator John Kennedy (the one from Louisiana)—hailed by Politico as “America’s most quotable Senator”—offers his perceptive (and hilarious) takes on the ridiculousness of political life in this scathingly witty takedown of Washington and its elite denizens.

How to Test Negative for Stupid offers the Senator’s tongue-in-cheek guidebook through Washington, punctuated by his thoughts on various issues and humorous stories about life from Louisiana politics and inside the Senate.

From the mind—and mouth—of “America’s Most Quotable Senator”:

  • “Always be yourself . . . unless you suck.”
  • “I say this gently: This is why the aliens won’t talk to us.”
  • “If you trust government, you obviously failed history class.”
  • “I believe that our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots.”
  • “Always follow your heart . . . but take your brain with you.”
  • “I’m not going to Bubble Wrap it: The water in Washington, D.C., won’t clear up until you get the pigs out of the creek.”
  • “I have the right to remain silent but not the ability.”
  • “Common sense is illegal in Washington, D.C., I know. I’ve seen it firsthand.”
  • “I believe that we are going to have to get some new conspiracy theories. All the old ones turned out to be true.”

About the Author

John Kennedy has served as the junior U.S. Senator from Louisiana since 2017. He previously held the position of Louisiana State Treasurer from 2000 to 2017. Kennedy graduated from Vanderbilt University, the University of Virginia, and Oxford University. He lives in Madisonville, LA and was raised in Zachary, LA.

Posted in #BookTours

Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy

Posted on by Reluctant Retiree

“Taps the fascinating history of a surprisingly understudied place—Dallas . . . to reorient our understanding of America’s Republican Right.” —Darren Dochuk, author of Anointed with Oil

On the morning of November 22, 1963, President Kennedy told Jackie as they started for Dallas, “We’re heading into nut country today.” That day’s events ultimately obscured and revealed just how right he was: Oswald was a lone gunman, but the city that surrounded him was full of people who hated Kennedy and everything he stood for, led by a powerful group of ultraconservatives who would eventually remake the Republican party in their own image.


In Nut Country, Edward H. Miller tells the story of that transformation, showing how a group of influential far-right businessmen, religious leaders, and political operatives developed a potent mix of hardline anticommunism, biblical literalism, and racism to generate a violent populism—and widespread power. Though those figures were seen as extreme in Texas and elsewhere, mainstream Republicans nonetheless found themselves forced to make alliances, or tack to the right on topics like segregation. As racial resentment came to fuel the national Republican party’s divisive but effective “Southern Strategy,” the power of the extreme conservatives rooted in Texas only grew.


Drawing direct lines from Dallas to DC, Miller’s captivating history offers a fresh understanding of the rise of the new Republican Party and the apocalyptic language, conspiracy theories, and ideological rigidity that remain potent features of our politics today.

“Well-researched and briskly written . . . A timely, intelligent, and penetrating book.” —The New York Times Book Review

Continue reading “Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy” →