"Let It Be Pure and Bright"

"Great emergencies awaken generous traits which have lain dormant half a life. If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine...Do what is more difficult & brave. Reform! It is not proof of highest goodness never to have done wrong, but it is proof of it, sometimes in ones career, to pause & ponder, to recognize the evil, to turn resolutely against it...Once in awhile there comes a crisis which renders miracles feasible. The great tidal wave of sorrow which has rolled over the country has swept you loose from your old moorings & set you on a mountaintop, alone.”

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Sick Presidents, Dude

With Hillary Clinton falling victim to pneumonia, in a move to show how human and relatable she is to voters, people in the media have been highlighting the many other ailments that Presidents have suffered. And whenever we talk about Presidential ailments, William Henry Harrison (who died in 30 days) is always one of the first people to be discussed.

Traditional wisdom holds that Harrison gave a long speech on inauguration day, refused to wear a hat on a cold day, contracted pneumonia and died only a month into his term. A cautionary tale used by every mother who wants her kid to wear a hat outside. And hey, even Harrison's physician said he died of "pneumonia of the lower lobe of the right lung, complicated by congestion of the liver."

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Swear to God

For the most part, when a politician takes their oath of office, they raise their right hand, place their left hand on the holy book of their choice, and swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Curiously, there's no constitutional requirement that an elected official take their oath of office on a holy book. In fact, John Quincy Adams allegedly took his oath of office on a book of laws, and Representative Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) the only member of Congress who lists her religion as "unaffiliated" took her oath on the Constitution.

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