Iconic WWII photo canceled, then uncanceled

I had this thought after that part of the discussion, what is the value of times tables anyway? Why is it a good thing to learn them by rote, when people have access to calculators? Isn't it more important to know the principles of multiplication, rather than just having a LUT in your head? Does learning by rote help inculcate the principles? I don't know the answers to any of those questions, but a sensible discussion wouldn't pre-assume an answer. One thing I do know is that my kids had a better education than I did.

And I hear that Olivia Rodrigo's handing them out at her gigs.

Ah, sarcasm. You mean, like mixing up Biden and Obama, or Pelosi and Haley? I'm guessing we're going to hear more and more about 'sarcasm'.

Of course. Why would I speak it when it doesn't suit me? Does this brave new world require all of us to deploy sarcasm all of the time, whether we want to or not?

Absolutely right. F'in babies. Won't do anything for themselves. Just expect people to look after them. Haven't done a day's honest work in their lives. Parasites, all of them.

That would probably be the best option in a place where Trump had his way.

Slightly different proposition, for a few reasons. Firstly, the situations in today's society where you have to do arithmetic in your head are far fewer than those where you need to read. Second, if one knows the principles of multiplication, you can still multiply and no-one's talking about not being able to multiply**After all it's only repeated addition. It's slower, but if you don't need to do it often, do you need it? As I said, I don't know. My younger son could multiply in his head from the age of four. Scared the hell out of his teachers. It seemed to be inductive reasoning going on in there, not a LUT.
Oh, sorry. That was sarcasm, wasn't it? I'm getting the impression that you haven't quite got the knack of it.

** not even these Californians, you look at the document and it very definitely says that kids should come out being able to multiply - and they aren't talking about birth control, even though they're Californians.

Breaking news. Well known far-left politician Mike Pence has said he's not endorsing Donald Trump. Is he going to be executed too? By hanging by a load of harmless fat old middle-aged guys wielding phones?

Maybe this isn't all about 'left versus right'. There are very right-wing (i.e. conservative) people who aren't actually in favour of a fascist takeover of the polity. I guess that this is where Mr Pence is coming from. This is the time when you should be realising that your model of politics is simplistic. You need to add (at least) one more axis. Mr Pence is undoubtedly extremely conservative and religious (BTW, I'm an atheist, but I'm not opposed per se to religious people, I form my opinions on what their religion leads them to believe, discounting big beardy blokes in the sky), and almost every political idea that he supports is opposed to what I think is right, but he's not in favour, it would appear, of supplanting the democratic system with an authoritarian one. That's not to say that he's been exactly explicit about why he won't support Trump, it's just my own extrapolation from that. At present, the desire to hold onto democracy is sufficient reason to vote against Trump (which Mr Pence has not said he will do, again that's an assumption).
As for democracy, I'd go with Churchill (another right wing politician with whom I don't agree on much, but was still one of the greatest British leaders), when he said

The big point about democracy is that it gives the opportunity to eject tyrants in a usually non-violent manner.

Not really, because as JACS pointed out, there are vocalisation mechanisms that will provide you with access to written texts. Plus, there is nothing about the medium of text that stops misinformation and propaganda using it. The Nazis were very proficient in using the printed word to spread their ideas. The real skill you need is in evaluating competing information sources.