[qotoobsf] a politician is lying when his lips are moving

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

then, before the ink was dry:

"the whole Number of free Persons..., three fifths of all other Persons."

it's slapstick comedy.

Article I, section 2: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."

this section was later repealed by the 14th Amendment, during Reconstruction after the Civil War.  was the Civil War, Reconstruction, and then the End Of Reconstruction a continuation of the slapstick comedy routine?  also the Civil Rights Movement then the Republican Southern Strategy?

(curiously, the 14th amendment seems to have upgraded slaves from 0.6 of a person to a full person only for the purpose of Representatives but not for direct taxes.  of course, slavery was banned by the 13th amendment so this is a moot point -- it was already a moot point by the time the 14th amendment was enacted.  maybe this will matter in some weird future where we repeal the 13th amendment and the federal government starts doing a lot of non-income direct taxation.  federal income tax is a direct tax permitted by the 16th amendment to not be apportioned.)

inspired by an Israeli trying to justify the genocide of Gaza by pointing to the fundamental charter of Hamas that calls for the destruction of Israel.  interpreting that charter at face value (as opposed to as a political document) is about as foolish as interpreting the United States's fundamental charter political document (Declaration of Independence) at face value, something our courts entirely laugh at.  of course, when trying to justify genocide, people always reach for any excuse they can.