10/31/24 – This Halloween’s best costume goes to the kleptocrats, such as a certain evil person and his evil partner in crime, Elon Musk, who are wearing as costumes the uniforms of ordinary Americans, to con them into thinking they are one of them. They are engaging in this disguise to steal this country’s riches that has been created by the ordinary people who they loathe. The trick is on any and all of their supporters or voters. Happy Halloween!
10/30/24 – Most people – even well-educated people – have a hard time understanding basic macroeconomics. Basic macroeconomics. A government’s budget is nothing like an individual’s or even a large corporation’s budget. If you’re voting for a certain person because of his business background, not only was he a failure at his businesses but that experience DOES NOT translate well to managing a country’s economy or finances.
What should be the most obvious is that a government has control over its money supply. This is part of what we call monetary policy. No individual or corporation has this power. The other important difference is that government spending is part of the GDP identity: GDP is Y = C + I + G + NX. It is a hugely important part of the health of our economy. You can see it in this graphic here.
Components of GDP: Explanation, Formula and Chart
Elon Musk is a degenerate on every level: personal, moral, intellectual. It is absurd that a know-nothing with a severe god complex – who the American people have not elected to any position of power – thinks he should determine how our country operates. If his plan is implemented, there will be a severe recession, and it will damage our economy – in the long-term, not just in the short-term.
He and a certain person – the evil one – want to enslave the American people. Just know this now before you cast your vote. These people are all plutocrats. If you think they care about ordinary Americans, you are dead wrong. They despise you. They think you are stupid lowlives. Get it? You vote for them, and you could be helping to prove them right….
Musk’s Plan to Cut $2 Trillion in U.S. Spending Could Bring Economic Turmoil
10/29/24 – So, this is what you do. You drive, fly or take a train to a swing state and door knock for Harris Walz. If you can’t do this, you get on the phone and make calls. Some people are dedicating serious time to this because it’s just that important. Enjoy being outside during the best time of the year and getting to know your fellow citizens. The American people are wonderful!
10/29/24 – So, this is what you do. You go to vote early. Why? Because there will be fewer people, and you can be as neurotic as you want. You fill in everything extra carefully, especially your identifying information and your signature. You get your ballot. Then, you carefully fill in your ballot. Stare at it. Did you select Harris Walz? Are you sure? Stare at it again. Is the oval filled in perfectly? (In some states, you can take a picture of your ballot.) This is worthy of your obsession, not the other things people are getting distracted by. Then, you fold it up. Then, you unfold it, and look at it one last time. Then, you bring it to the ballot counting machine and watch it go in. Verify on the screen that it was processed. Lastly, you proudly put on your “I voted early” sticker and feel really good about yourself because this was the most stressful election of your life. You did it! You just contributed in the most meaningful way possible to saving our democracy. Patriot.
10/28/24 – We’re not giving the world an accurate representation of our people. Americans are some of the nicest people in the world. In our day-to-day lives, they are kind, helpful, generous, and very polite. Even if they might not like you for whatever reason, they tend to be polite. Yet that’s not what the world sees. They are seeing MAGA’s anger, gun violence, hateful rhetoric, etc., all of the negative expressions without seeing the positive ones. This skews their perception of our people.
We are also considerably warmer than some other parts of the world, such as northern Europe. Even in the Midwest, where people tend to be reserved, or the South, where people tend to be polite over honest, they express themselves. This natural expression, even if it is in disagreement, is an expression of warmth. They trust you enough to tell you what they really think and feel. They trust you to not get (too) offended but to accept it as where they’re at. It’s a testament to the openness of our society and the exercise of our right to free speech. We need to make sure that the world sees us as we actually are, not as some angry, uncouth caricature. Those people are few and far between.
10/27/24 – Many Americans are frustrated with the illegal immigration situation. It needs to be addressed. The frustration seems to be that especially more recent immigrants are getting the benefits of residing in our country without contributing to it over long periods of time. We need to consider if we’re giving resources that could be going to our indigenous people or our black people who were descendants of slaves to these more recent immigrants, who are coming here illegally. Our indigenous people lost the most, and our black people gave the most. Also, there are poor white people who have not been able to climb up the ladder for whatever reason, and they have also contributed greatly to our country. All of our fellow Americans are worthy of our sympathy and help. In general, we need to address in a calm and compassionate way this sense of unfairness they feel that is not entirely wrong while still maintaining our values as a nation to other people and other countries. There is merit to MAGA’s and other Americans’ argument, and perhaps more importantly, we are not doing a good enough job of responding to their pain.
10/27/24 – Door knocking is the best part of politics. Truly. Most Americans – yes, even many MAGA – are just really nice people. You will likely have some unpleasant interactions. It just goes with the territory. If you teach, you know exactly how this goes. You reflect on it, and think next time, I’m going to try this or that and see if it works better. Or I’m going to pause and just be present with this human being where they’re at. It is impossible for every single interaction to go perfectly. You will make mistakes, but you will also learn so much about others – and yourself.
10/27/24 – Is it possible for us to keep our eyes on the prize for the next 10 days? We have to save our democracy from the fascist groomer. Who cares about endorsements? Certainly not the people who read them or don’t read them. Come on, people. Progressives, we need a broad coalition to win. Deal with it. Nobody cares about your feelings. We care about our democracy. Focus on the things that actually matter. Thank you, and Happy Sunday!
10/26/24 – Pennsylvania, people! Democrats need to focus on it more.
10/26/24 – Also, according to the Times/Siena poll, his unfavorability ratings went from +6 on October 6 to +2 on October 23. In two weeks, public opinion of the person everyone knows all too well, who is more awful than ever, supposedly improved 4 points in their poll. Really? Based on what? Or did they change their methodology?
10/26/24 – The small donor donations, volunteers and ground game, and the favorability ratings, according to 538, as of today, a certain person unfavorable +8.7 and Harris +1.4, don’t reconcile with him winning the popular vote, which he never won. It wasn’t even close. You have to look at the totality of evidence, and when it’s not reconciling and going against established trends, such as Republicans having a big disadvantage in the popular vote, reconsider the methodology.
10/26/24 – If your poll is showing that a certain person is leading in the popular vote, you need to check your methodology.
10/25/24 – To the people who claim that Kamala Harris lacks core convictions, with respect, please do STFU. She has spent much of her life fighting to protect innocent people from predators. That’s not just a core conviction but also part of her life’s work. That’s what she’s doing right now also. She’s what stands between a groomer and the rest of the country, between autocracy and democracy. What have you done? Does this core conviction translate well to the Americans who are so obsessed with their own personal inconveniences, such as a moderate level of inflation, that they are prioritizing it over saving our democracy and everything else? Apparently not. It is what it is, but stop pretending that this situation reflects some deep weakness for the Democratic presidential candidate. It doesn’t.
10/24/24 – The most dangerous and most blatant groomer in the country right now is a certain person. Think about what it means to condition someone to something. “[A certain person] condition[s] his followers to accept his Big Lie about the election.” He has “conditioned” them to accept any lie, no matter how outrageous. A certain person is a groomer, and unfortunately for MAGA and, frankly, for the rest of us, they have been groomed. Regarding the question: “Is there ever a moment when you’re remembering too much?” Regarding January 6, no. Never forget.
Trump and the January 6 Memory Hole
10/24/24 – We want all the men in our country to know something important – our country and the women in our country need you. We have always needed you. Among many other things, we need your strength, your protection, your toughness, your vulnerability, your kindness, and your solidarity. We also very much need you to help us save our democracy by voting for Harris Walz.
We don’t want you to be anybody else but yourselves. We want you to be men. (But don’t do the annoying things, though, you know…toilet seats and such. Nobody needs that.) So, whatever messages the extreme right propagandists and a certain person are sending you, just ignore them. Work with the women in our country to build a nation we all deserve to live in – one that values all people and treats all of them with dignity and kindness. Thank you for everything you do for us and our country. God bless you.
10/23/24 – For a potentially historic election like this, you might want to get some Harris Walz merch.
10/23/24 – This is not a forecast, and everyone Team Harris Walz needs to push until the end. However, the small donor money might be a decent proxy for votes, as James Carville mentioned in The New York Times and as The Washington Post reported. If people are engaged enough to donate, they are likely engaged enough to vote. Did anyone analyze the data from 2020 with this hypothesis? Perhaps compare with this year.
10/21/24 – Speaking of working-class chic, our families were not financially wealthy, but we were wealthy in other ways. Our parents made us home-cooked meals with whole ingredients almost every day, partly because they couldn’t afford to do otherwise, but also because it simply tastes better. This is a very good idea. Small farms are much better for our environment, and this type of food is much healthier for our kids.
Another way we were wealthy also seems to have gone out of fashion. We not only ate good food together, but we also talked about culture, especially novels and art. Our families were filled with readers, and we enjoyed the art of a good conversation on textual analysis, art, and other topics that are often associated with the rich. We weren’t rich, but it didn’t matter because libraries are free and museums can be too.
Don’t think that just because you don’t have money, you can’t offer your kids a wealthy life. You can. Take the time to cook and eat healthy food together. Take the time to study and discuss the finer things in life. We are a product of this poor but rich life. You don’t have to have a lot of money to be cultured and healthy. You simply have to value the right things.
Harris should take Walz’s ‘liberal’ school lunch program national
10/21/24 – We are in the stage of the election when the plutocrat pretends to be a pleb. We all know that Harris and Walz were plebs because we all know that they weren’t born rich. We can all keep track of the plot and the point, right? Because that’s the plot and the point. Now, the amusing part of the absurdity is this: here is an evil, dictator wannabe, who’s never done an honest day’s work in his life, who calls his supporters, who for all of their shortcomings do actually work, “basement dwellers;” this person is trying on, that’s right, working-class chic. It’s a costume that’s he’s donning on his latest set. Next, the flannel that fills Walz’s closet because, well, he’s Minnesotan. We’re waiting for the hunting photo op, much like his son does. No, a certain person is not going to f—k working-class Americans over. He and his cronies, such as Elon Musk, also a plutocrat pretending to be a pleb, are not going to horde the nation’s wealth that working-class Americans create. He’s an everyday, working man, just like you.
10/20/24 – On this World Mission Day, we’re on a mission to save our planet, God’s glorious creation that is in great peril. Our planet is on the brink. It is entirely conceivable that all life on earth, which is also all known life in the universe, could come to an abrupt end. As people of faith, perhaps we should not be surprised, but being human, we likely still are. We want to thank our spiritual and religious sisters and brothers of all faith traditions around the world, who are often also indigenous people, for holding the line in this existential battle against the western scientism that is destroying our ancestral lands and the planet at such a rapid pace, we haven’t even fully processed the damage.
We want to give a particular shout out, again in the same week, to our American indigenous friends. We never forget what they did to you, in their arrogance and their unwillingness to live respectfully alongside nature, as you had done for millennia, instead of crushing it into nonexistence. Indigenous people of all spiritual and religious traditions, such as Jains, who treat our natural world with divine love and compassion, understand your pain and your loss. It’s actually all of humanity’s loss, but so many people are too busy amusing themselves to death to recognize the impending death of our planet.
10/20/24 – We would have liked to have shared this yesterday, on the Jewish Sabbath, but unfortunately, we were just too pissed off. We’re still not feeling joy, but maybe that’s the best time to share the article. Sukkot runs until the 23rd, so we have time to find some kind of joy by then. However, the topic couldn’t be better timed: “No matter how you feel, for seven days, practice humility, count your blessings, and gather with family and friends to share in food and drink – and joy will find you.” The killing of the monstrous terrorist Yahya Sinwar, at the start of Sukkot, October 16, was also rather providential.
PS We also noticed that several Christian authors have been writing articles supportive of the Jewish people, particularly during their holy time, which is now also a time of pain. Thank you for these acts of kindness and solidarity. Never again is realized by the sum of individual acts such as these.
Why Humility Is the Key to Well-Being
10/19/24 – At this point, the only thing the world needs from scientists is to clean up the mess they made on earth as noninvasively as possible. Give us back the planet that God gave us. That’s all we want and need, and then, simply disappear from our lives. Thank you, and have a nice day.
10/19/24 – We have a question for Elon Musk: Off the top of your head, can you name a single descendant of Genghis Khan? All this effort to dominate will leave him as a cautionary note in the annals of history, just like every single egomaniacal loser that came before him. (The hashtag belongs to Jack Dorsey.) #TheJesusWay is the only way.
10/19/24 – All true, but another truth is that in addition to businessman, Musk views himself as a scientist, an engineer, a neuroscientist, whatnot. The left supposedly despises the person that has a god complex just like the scientists that they love for doing the very same things: space exploration, basically eugenics (creating humans or superhumans in the lab), replacing humans with AI, etc., just without the overt greed. Ambition, including intellectual ambition, by the way, is also self-interest, in case the left is confused about that. It’s often confused. When you can’t see your own contradictions, in great part, because the self-proclaimed intellectuals have created an intellectual and social bubble around themselves, you’re in a sad, sad state. This is true of MAGA land, and it’s true of lalaliberal land.
Trump Is Elon Musk’s Trojan Horse
10/19/24 – The most dangerous person in the world is a human being who mistakes themselves for god. There are plenty on both the right and the left.
10/19/24 – Why is this presidential election so close? Because we have extreme groups on both sides who are vying for control, and the center is not holding. That’s why. As a country, we deserve to see a truly broad coalition of voters for the winning candidate and candidates with a true mandate. We cannot continue as we have been. This last point regarding the coalition was made by David Brooks, who is more or less a moderate/centrist, and who many on the left refuse to even read. Right now, the extreme left dominates the media and academia, and their science gods are a menace to all life any and everywhere.
Why the Heck Isn’t She Running Away With This?
“The New York Times columnist David Brooks, a longtime Republican who is backing Ms. Harris, recently explained why he is still not ‘fully comfortable’ with the Democratic Party. One reason is the self-congratulation that Democrats can’t seem to help displaying as they dominate the most highly educated segments of society: ‘The more they dominate the commanding heights of society, the more aggressively progressive aristocrats posture as marginalized victims of oppression.’ But most of my Democratic acquaintances have a response to this: They refuse to read anything by David Brooks.”
Why is the presidential election so close? Here are five reasons.
They call themselves intellectuals, and they won’t even read an opposing viewpoint. It’s disgusting. They are pseudo-intellectual quacks. Read it, leftists and scientists. You might actually learn something about yourselves and how much of the country sees you. It’s an objective and accurate assessment.
Confessions of a Republican Exile
10/19/24 – It is definitely a hard call which extreme group is more dangerous. In the short-term, the extreme right, with its affection for demagoguery. In the long-term, the extreme left, with its affection for “science,” by which they mean f—kery. In either case, human civilization and the planet will suffer, in many cases irreparably. Hard truth.
10/18/24 – As someone who considers nature my best friend, personally, I feel quite resentful and bitter about the damage “science” has done to it. So, the science worship will never be well-received for several reasons. Who do you think creates this crap that has done irreparable damage to our planet? Their job is just to observe the world God created and report their findings so we can better understand our natural biological and physical world. Instead, they want to bomb fjords and redirect ocean currents. (Totally absurd.) From weapons of war, including chemical and nuclear weapons, to industrial and household chemicals, to everything, they have done more damage in the past 100 years to the planet than all of human civilization before it. And this is who the left worships while simultaneously claiming to care about the planet. OK.
10/18/24 – This is a long article from 1998, and many readers are going to get lost in all of the details. The Atlantic should offer a summary…. (Ignore anything related to evolutionary theory, seriously.) As we understand the unnecessarily involved article and as it relates to climate change, the key points are that abrupt cooling can happen, often following a warm period, and the planet can take a long time to warm up again after the cooling occurs. The occurrence of abrupt cooling has to do with loops of global currents and (salt) flushing, which can fail for various reasons, one being that too much fresh water mixes with saltwater. This failed flushing later prevents adequate warm water from flowing far enough north to prevent the formation of ice sheets.
Now, for normal people, this means that the dumb MAGA were right in one sense: climate change is a natural phenomenon. However, they understand this change as solely moderate ebbs and flows. These exist, but so do the dramatic changes. The super smart science worshippers are also right in the sense that humans do affect these natural climate changes. Of course, we do, come on MAGA. What don’t we affect?
“We must be careful not to think of an abrupt cooling in response to global warming as just another self-regulatory device.” But that’s what it is. The earth has an internal mean reversion thermometer if you will. However, the scale of the climate’s response would likely be beyond what it would be in the absence of human contributions to climate change. This seems like an entirely reasonable conclusion.
Where the article goes off into lalaland: We are not at all fans of playing God and trying to prevent this natural cycle. Just accept the planet’s cycles as they are, or you can end up doing a lot more damage than you would otherwise do. If one wants to proactively enact policies to prevent displacement, food shortages, or other disruptions from climate change, that’s obviously fine. However, the planet is not a toy for overly confident scientists. It’s God’s creation, and the more they do to it, see the chemicals that are choking life on earth, the more trouble we get into. That’s a fact. If the scientific community had humility and intellectual honesty, they would acknowledge it.
Also, this is yet another appalling example of the science worshippers’ self-idolatry and their seething hatred of religion. “Medieval cathedral builders…undertakings were a far larger drain on the economic resources and people power of their day than anything yet discussed for stabilizing the climate in the twenty-first century.” (Read the suggestions to understand how preposterous this statement is.) We get it. They want more science jobs. That means more taxpayer money funneled to scientists to play around with their science toys, such as our planet. This also pulls resources away from people who don’t have their cushy, well-paid white-collar jobs and are simply trying to feed their families. And what would they deliver for the rest of us? “Fixing” the planet God created that science is currently destroying. Genius. From the gods of finance to the gods of science, some things never change. These people’s arrogance is truly disgusting.
The Great Climate Flip-Flop
10/17/24 – MAGA, you can bounce around from one billionaire to another, hoping that they will save you out of pity. (FYI: Your odds would be better buying lottery tickets.) Or you could try a strategy that actually works: Find solidarity with your fellow Americans, including liberals, who, like you, actually have to work to make a living. Just an idea.
10/17/24 – An interesting feature of modern capitalism is that companies are less inclined to compete for your business by providing you with a great service or product. (How do y’all feel about customer service?) They seem more interested in monopolizing the market. Does that sound familiar to anyone who knows their American labor and economic history?
It is an interesting strategy to pour money into a certain person’s campaign, find and support a scion, but ultimately decide only you can serve your own goals. It’s a very Muskian approach: The only plan is to change the plan. Many of these plutocrats or their progeny would enter politics to control the wheels of power. What better way to dominate markets but to dominate the law and to tailor it to serve oneself?
Although Musk has spread his sperm to rival Genghis Khan, he is still waiting to reap the financial dividends from his sperm spreading. In the meantime, how long before Elon Musk announces his bid for_____ (anything but president or VP since he’s ineligible) or requires repayment from a certain person by being given a powerful political position to serve, of course, himself? He, like a certain person, is entirely self-interested. Elon Musk, traitor, might be a step above, a certain person, insurrectionist, but, you know, this isn’t the shiniest moment in American history.
10/17/24 – MAGA, you want a better life. You have to unite with your fellow laborers, all of them. We don’t need a savior. (Some of us already have one in Jesus Christ. Thank you very much.) We are each other’s champions. We welcome you with open arms.
10/17/24 – MAGA, your “savior” will make you into a slave. You have little power now. You will be completely powerless in his fascist state. You have been warned.
10/17/24 – Don’t believe us. Listen to your fellow laborer, a descendant of this brutal legacy.
John Russell speaks at the 2024 Democratic National Convention | DNC Day 4
10/17/24 – Greed + Fascism = Terror
10/17/24 – If you aren’t one of them, you are what we call a laborer. Know what that means. Know what it has meant in our country’s history. It has meant that your life can be treated like it’s worthless. It has meant that you and your family can be subjected to state-sanctioned terror and oppression. MAGA wants to go back in time. That’s where they’re going to take us.
Plutocracy
10/17/24 – Elon Musk, traitor. Timothy Mellon, trust-fund traitor. While our valorous military sacrifice their lives to protect our country, our citizens and our freedom, these parasites want to devour more and more of our nation’s wealth even if it costs us our democracy and our freedom. Know who they are.
Elon Musk has given $75 million, so far, to put Donald Trump back in the White House
10/16/24 – We need more independents and union member leaders running for office. Solidarity forever.
Democrats thought their Senate hopes were dead. They were just in Nebraska.
10/16/24 – Cowards and pustules.
Liz Cheney says she regrets her past support for Donald Trump: Full interview
10/16/24 – There are pustules on the body politic. These pustules are filled with unprincipled ambition and greed. These pustules have different names, but they all share the same ignoble title – traitor. They have betrayed our country and our people. For this great sin, every single one of their names will be followed by their disgraceful title, traitor, and they will all be written into the American record. To a certain person’s wealthy donors who are trying to hide their names, current or future Americans will figure out who you are, and you and your progeny will be remembered as traitors to our democracy.
10/16/24 – Mark Milley reportedly told Bob Woodward that a certain person is “fascist to the core.” This is an objective and accurate assessment.
10/16/24 – MAGA, he lost the election, and he lied to you about it. As God as our witness, that’s the truth.
10/15/24 – Let’s consider some other forms of denial. Rather apropos, how about election denialism. We’ve had countless number of media figures, politicians, celebrities, you name it, try to convince MAGA that a certain person lost the election, all to no avail. Although it seems impossible to succeed at this daunting task, we would be remiss if we stopped trying. We do think MAGA can get there. It’s just a matter of if it will be too late for our country by the time they do.
MAGA, he lost the election. It’s a fact. There was no rigging or cheating. He simply lost, and he lied to you about it. We understand. You need someone to believe in because you have been let down. (Both parties did let you down.) He comes along, says what you want to hear, and it’s like music to your ears. Many of you are also predisposed to loyalty, which is usually a positive trait, with some exceptions. One of the most important exceptions is when you’re wrong in your assessment of the character of the person to whom you’re giving your loyalty. Instead of being your champion, he has manipulated your emotions to his own benefit and to the peril of our country.
What are some of the objective assessments of a certain person? He is a “person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is about.” This article compares him to George Washington, who Americans revere for many great reasons, foremost among them are: his sacrifice for our nation, his leadership by example, and his self-restraint. From the article, “No president in history, not even the worst moral weaklings among them, is further from Washington than Trump.” It is an objective and accurate assessment. MAGA, we encourage you to listen to or read the whole article. You might learn something about Washington, our first president, a certain person, our country, and most importantly, yourselves.
The Moment of Truth
10/15/24 – Public service announcement: Time exists. We understand that its abstract nature might make it hard for people to fully grasp it, but let’s try. From the beginning of the universe, as matter was created, so was time. Time marks the birth, and wait for it, the change and the death of matter. From our perspective, this is part of the divine order. Civilizations and calendars vary in how they measure time, but they all measure this abstract concept.
Now, why does this come as a public service announcement? Because it seems that some people want to deny the existence of time. This is as futile as denying the existence of our sun. With time, comes change. No one can stop time and change. You can rage against the dying of the light, but our sun will remain, marking the seasons and the years, and you will die. So too, at some point in the distant future, will our sun.
Our climate is changing. You can deny this reality, but it might end up being a very costly denial. If you are a homeowner, know that just as mortality is real, climate change is real. If we measure superiority by survival, some of the world’s most superior creatures are insects, such as the cockroach, which has outlived the dinosaurs. Although inconvenient for evolutionary theory, let us not confuse intelligence with survival.
Continuing to live in areas that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change is continuing to engage in the denial of the existence of time and change. Although the human brain is sophisticated enough to come up with all kinds of delusions and irrational justifications, this doesn’t mean that they are actually in service of our own survival, not to mention, even remotely tethered to basic physics.
So, again, why do we point out all of these facts in the context of a public service announcement? Well, you might consider adjusting your plans to account for these changes. You might consider accounting for the fact that time exists, and it doesn’t care about you. Even if human beings didn’t contribute to climate change (we do), the climate would change, in ways beyond our control, because it obeys God’s divine order. And since the beginning of the universe, God’s divine order involves time and change.
10/14/24 – It is an interesting strategy to go to some of the bluest states and the bluest cities to try to convince their happy people to be miserable too. Looking at you, a certain person/Vance. We understand that this ticket has a penchant for insults and are perpetual malcontents, but, you know, the rest of us just don’t and aren’t. It might have something to do with our high-quality of life because we live in places where people care for each other instead of hating each other. Next time, come to learn kindness instead of coming to preach hate. You might actually grow as a human being.
10/14/24 – “The quiet as old as the beginning of time.” As someone who practices contemplative prayer, the quiet is part of my connection with the divine. How can one hear the voice of God when one is always listening to the monkey in one’s head, other people, and the sounds of our unnecessarily complicated lives?
Traditional Republicans were also often conservationists. They understood the value of the natural world. By investing in nature, we also invest in ourselves. Investing in it, including the wild, pristine parts, is wise.
Personally, nature was my first friend, and it remains my best friend. In it, I found a divine comfort that continues to serve me well. Just as God is always there for me, nature is always there for me. Reveling in God’s creation in its abundance and awe makes me feel grateful simply to be alive. What a gift life is, my own and everything around me.
Like all of us, our indigenous sisters and brothers weren’t perfect, but they understood and respected the value of nature. We could learn from them and return to a way of life that respects God’s creation. White people have been dangerously good at obtaining material wealth and worldly power. They haven’t been good at appreciating the wealth that they had no role in creating, our natural world whose value is infinite, and divine power. Let’s replace this misguided value system with one that elevates God’s creation, in its splendid biodiversity.
We have suggested that people, especially our fellow Americans during this election season, breathe. We also suggest that they spend some time breathing in nature and in silence. Silence is an ancient prayer, one that is as old as the beginning of time. There was no matter, no light, and no sound. There was also no time. There was nothing. Everything that you are, everything that you feel, see and hear, none of it was made by you. It was all made by our creator. All we did was change the composition of God’s existing material. In our misguided pursuit of material wealth and comfort, we have lost so much.
Preserving biodiversity isn’t just about protecting our planet and God’s other creations. It’s about restoring ourselves. We are not whole. We are not oriented to our creator. So, how could we possibly be whole? Instead, we are broken and lost. We either choose to control our destructive, insatiable appetites for power, wealth and comfort, or we lose everything that actually matters. We lose what God gave us, and we will have only our transformation of it. It will be a disappointment and a regret. It already is.
Nations Must Protect What Is Still Wild
10/13/24 – One of the amazing aspects of The Atlantic, founded in 1857, is how long it’s been around. Its own archive is also a national treasure. There aren’t many publications that can boast this. As the article mentions, it has endorsed a candidate for president only four previous times in its entire history: Lincoln, for obvious reasons, in 1860, Lyndon B. Johnson because of the unfitness of his opponent, Barry Goldwater, in 1964, Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020, both times because of the unfitness of the opponent. And here we are again, America. Again. Three times with the same guy for the same reasons. God help us.
As The Atlantic notes, this election is yet another turning point. Of the three times, 2016, 2020 and 2024, this time is the most crucial. We are asking you to think about something bigger than yourselves. We are asking you to think about the fate of the American experiment. We are humbly asking you to trust our judgment and our ability to see into the character of this man and into the future of our country under him for a second term. If you can’t trust us, then look at yourselves. Look hard. When you have to preface your support of someone with, “I don’t like how he talks or treats people…,” there is a serious problem. Whatever words come after those words are irrelevant, no matter how important they seem at this particular moment in time. In other words, do not be penny-wise, pound-foolish.
The Case for Kamala Harris
10/13/24 – “I was looking for a country I want to live in.” An informative and funny article about the important and patriotic work the National Archives does. In families, there are often a few people who tend to the documentation of its history. They make the family tree, preserve the photographs, and painstakingly go through a life’s worth of stuff to keep the things that must be kept. They do so for future generations to see, read, feel and weep as they connect with their ancestors.
Our country is a family, and we are making our collective history each and every day we live here. Every day, often without realizing it, ordinary Americans are contributing to our National Archives. Think about the implications of this. Will you be proud of what future Americans see documented about you and your family?
The Equalizer
10/13/24 – “Penny-wise, but pound-foolish.” One of the sad facts about Republicans is that they tend to vote based on lowering taxes and presumably raising their own personal finances and quality of life. This is not a smart approach. Of course, we expect the government to be good stewards of the American people’s purse, and where there is “fraud, waste and abuse,” as the phrasing goes, it should be eliminated. But a people who are pound-wise understand that paying taxes is an investment in ourselves, our country, and the world.
Do you really want to live in a country that does not invest in itself and its people? You can’t live in a bubble. You can’t pay for your own infrastructure, military, local, state and national parks, police, emergency responders, etc. You also can’t pay for your own safety net. Do you know why? Because you don’t know what might happen in the future, not just to you, but also to your friends and family.
A government is more than a bureaucracy. It is a statement of values, and on a practical level, we pool our money to express those values. Solidarity is a verb, and one of the most common expressions of it as Americans is simply paying our taxes. Do so with a generosity of spirit, without grievance, jealousy or bitterness, and do so with the wisdom of investment in yourself, your own family and the other Americans without whom you couldn’t build this great country.
10/13/24 – To everybody: Disconnecting is healthy and wonderful. The more usual and regular posts will start again soon. Hope you enjoy this beautiful fall day. Peace be with you, friends.
10/13/24 – To MAGA world, who are also our fellow countrymen and women, we have a suggestion. Disconnect from the unreal world you’re living in, and spend some time in the real one. Don’t follow anything related to the news or your absurd conspiracy theories, which are like an alien invasion of the mind. The lies have taken over your brains, and they have ceased to operate in the way God intended. Remember: Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Truth is fundamental to Christianity. When you stop practicing truth, you stop practicing Christianity.
Instead of living in your unreal world, come hang out with us in our blue areas. Go to where your “enemies” live, and see how they live. You might find that it’s actually quite nice. We have a high-quality of life because we pay for it. We pay more in taxes than in red states, and our money goes to our people, our schools, our parks, our roads, our infrastructure, our everything that we value. Are we ever excited about paying taxes? No, but we understand that this is the cost to live in a great area that is well-managed and that this is what it looks like to take care of each other. We also, are you ready for this, help the red areas of the country pay their bills. More likely than not, we send you money.
But this isn’t about money. This is about our country. This is about you stepping out from behind the screen that is feeding you a world that doesn’t exist and stepping into the world that actually does. Come and check us out. We welcome you. Come and talk with your fellow Americans and see how we live, how we treat each other, and what we value. Then, let’s talk. Tell us what you find. We’re listening to you. God bless you.
10/8/24 – Studying the Christian and Jewish texts is addictive. It’s like gardening. You start with one plant, and before you know it, it’s acres of garden. Just like that, the bumble bees are so fat that they fall asleep on your flowers. They are so gluttonous that they don’t care that you are stroking them. They are in bee paradise. You start with one word; well, what about this one and that one. Before you know it, you’re feasting on the Word of God.
10/7/24 – To the Jewish people, we love you. God loves you. We pray for the safe return of the remaining hostages, for the beautiful souls brutally taken from you, for God’s comfort to their families and to you, his Chosen People. We don’t really have the words for moments like these, but you already have them. Today, we pray and read our religious texts. Remember this: although it might not always feel like it, you are not alone. You are never alone. God is with you, and there are good people in the world who will always be there for you, no matter what. Peace be with you. Shalom.
October 7, 2024: Sources for Grief and Comfort
10/6/24 – As a point of clarification: we are not interested in “determining the authenticity of people’s faith” (see below) as it relates to conversions. People will come to conversion in different ways, different measures of head and heart that is impossible for others to truly understand. However, the long initiation process in traditional Christianity is intended to act as a vetting process. It is an important process to retain. However, we do feel entirely comfortable, in fact, that it is a duty to maintain the integrity of the religion and to ask people to leave who violate fundamental tenets of the faith. A red line is worshipping a false god, which is what “Christian nationalists” are doing. It is extremely damaging to the faith, and if left unchecked, it can metastasize and corrupt the body of Christ.
10/6/24 – The Catholic Church’s leadership is not rising to the challenges of the moment. The leadership has not been focused on Jesus Christ and our faith. It is preoccupied with worldly things.
10/6/24 – Tomorrow, October 7 will be reserved for the Jewish people, who have been persecuted throughout much of their existence. We wish them peace and love. We have been and will always be there for them. Even if the entire world turns on them, we will never abandon them. Our loyalties are always with the people who sacrifice the most and who are the most vulnerable.
The plight of the Palestinians also brings the world much heartache. We are sympathetic to the cry of their innocents. All people of goodwill wish there would be peace in the Holy Land. For the three Abrahamic religions, it is a sacred place. The scale of Palestinian deaths and the destruction of their lives are painful to us. We blame the current Israeli “leadership,” mainly Netanyahu.
Our parent religion is Judaism. This is a historical fact. Any denialism of facts will be met with assertion of truths. We do not receive lies with sympathy. We also do not receive any violence with sympathy. A sad fact about the Middle East is that militant Islam has terrorized the region. It does so presently in Afghanistan and Syria. It has repressive regimes, such as in Saudi Arabia and Iran. All of them treat women as property instead of as human beings with the rights endowed to them by their creator, the God of Abraham.
Militant Islam has driven massive populations of Muslims to misery and fleeing to the safety of regions beyond their homelands. It is a cancer that has metastasized throughout much of the world, especially African countries, with notable exceptions, such as in India. We want to thank our Muslim brothers and sisters in India who have resisted the siren call of extremism. Thank you for peacefully and patiently fighting against Hindu extremism in India.
Islam is the youngest of the Abrahamic religions. This is a fact. Yet it wants to dominate the lands to which the parent religion, the Jewish religion, belongs. This is simply unacceptable. Extremist Islam has driven out the Christians who are original to the Holy Land and the Levant. These Christians can trace their ancestry to the origins of the faith and to this land. They cannot live there because of how violent and intolerant the region has become due to militant Islam.
We have some suggestions for Islam. Practice more peace, humility and tolerance. Also, Judaism and the more traditional forms of Christianity, such as Catholicism, have long periods of initiation into the faith. In the Catholic tradition, it can take over a year to convert. We also do not force people to become or to remain Christian. It would be a violation of their God-given rights and would be spiritually meaningless. Although cradle Catholics are initiated by baptism as infants, it is only one of the three Christian rites of initiation. The other two span the life of the young person. We want people to understand and to think deeply about the demands of our faith. They are considerable, and it is not an easy religion to practice correctly. We also want people to build a personal relationship with our God, especially the Son in the Trinity, Jesus Christ. We ask MAGA “Christians,” who often belong to denominations with less extensive initiation rites, to leave Christianity. They are always welcome back when they can adhere to the tenets and the rigors of our faith.
We encourage Islam to adopt a rigorous initiation process, as both Judaism and traditional Christianity have. We also encourage Muslims to allow their adherents to leave the religion if they so choose. God does not force religion on anyone. We come to him by our choice. We choose to give of our free will our hearts and our lives to him. This change would greatly mitigate the militant strain in Islam. God made us free. Respect the God of Abraham. Peace to our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters. May you be instruments of God’s peace.
10/4/24 – Love is more important than politics. We ask blue-collar workers to vote with us, your fellow laborers, for Harris Walz because we think they will be better for labor and for our country. However, we want our first responders to know that you have our hearts, and we have your back no matter what. If a certain person ends up disappointing you, we will not blame you. We will keep fighting for you because you fight for us.
In Michigan, Harris doesn’t get hoped-for firefighters endorsement amid shifting labor loyalties
10/4/24 – Flashback Friday. 8/31/23 – “Men (as a group and to a significant extent) are larger, faster, and stronger than women. This cannot be disputed, and it cannot be understood as some irrelevancy, because it comes with an obvious moral question that each man must answer for himself: Will he use his strength to dominate the weak, or to protect them?… The opposite of toxic masculinity is heroic masculinity…. [I can’t remember the number of times I have cried, more accurately, sobbed when I have thought about this.] Heroic masculinity is the understanding that someone has to climb the endless staircases in the towers. On 9/11, 343 New York City firefighters died at Ground Zero, and there wasn’t one of them who didn’t know, or at least suspect, that he was climbing to his death. They didn’t do it because of a union contract or an employee handbook. They climbed those towers because they knew that it must be written into the American record that heroes were there that day, and that the desperate people inside those buildings had never—not once—been abandoned.” To those who sacrificed their lives for us and their relatives, know that they live in our hearts, minds and souls. We love them with a genuine, grateful love that’s as eternal as their heroic souls.
In Praise of Heroic Masculinity
10/4/24 – To the propaganda: start humbling yourselves and start treating your fellow laborers (and Americans) with more respect and value. You are not better than they are. Start practicing some humility.
10/4/24 – As a reiteration of the argument made in September 2024: The statement that “all people are equal” is false. It is objectively false. The statement that “all people are created equal” is true. It is not an objective statement. It is a moral declaration based on Judeo-Christian tenets. Any conclusions derived from it as an assumption, therefore, depend on this Judeo-Christian belief. Liberal atheists: stop deluding yourselves to claim the contrary.
Although we are unaware of all of these developments regarding conversions and such, we do know that for over 2,000 years, the church has been evolving. We also have no interest in determining the authenticity of people’s faith. Christianity will continue to evolve, and believers of various stripes will come and go. We welcome all new believers to the church, but we want the wealthy, well-educated ones to remember something: you are not the heart of our church. Our church belongs to our God, and Jesus Christ valued above all the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized.
Personally, I would love to claim that my heart just knew, and it alone informed my confirmation. However, it was not the case. I read and analyzed the Gospel for and by myself, and I decided it was true. I also realized that I loved Jesus Christ, while simultaneously understanding that this was a totally irrational love. I marveled at it then and still do now. My head led, convinced by logic, and my heart sealed the decision.
There are millions of people around the world who come to Christ because their hearts just know. They don’t have the same kind of self-consciousness or even surprise that I had at my heart. They might be illiterate, poor, powerless, but they understand him better than many of us will ever understand him. So, while we welcome everyone, the rest of us, including myself, need to walk into the Lord’s house in a posture of humility and gratitude.
Some of Christianity’s Biggest Skeptics Are Becoming Vocal Converts
10/3/24 – To all the blue-collar workers out there, we want you to know something important. We respect you. We value you. And we hear you. The only difference between blue-collar workers and teachers, nurses, and others is that the latter group has to have a college education to work in their profession. We are all laborers. That’s all we are, and that’s all we want to be. Blue-collar workers, we have your back. We are not elites. We are simple folk like you. We work hard, and we come home to our families and our communities that we love. Many of us are God-fearing people.
The Biden Harris administration did more for blue-collar and union workers than the Democratic Party has done in a long time. A certain person is lying to you. The older generation was right. The Republican Party is the party of the business elite. That is who a certain person is. He is a business elite. Although his running mate has more potential to be convinced of our positions, at the moment, he has become a business elite. They are not being honest with you.
Did the Democratic Party before Biden Harris leave blue-collar workers behind? They did, and they need to own that. However, the Biden Harris administration has made changes that we can build on. On a cultural level, the “wokeness” on the left is out of control. Let’s push back on it by splitting the ticket: voting for Republicans or Independents on other races, not the presidential one. Remember: we are laborers, like you, and we have mutual interests. Vote for Harris Walz, and work with us to move this country in the right direction. Solidarity forever.
10/2/24 – Please note that both abortion and immigration are important issues for Catholics. We do not like dehumanizing treatment of immigrants. Stop the demagoguery. Some commentary on the VP debate without the breathlessness. “The U.S. bishops have been lobbying for comprehensive immigration reform for decades. To learn more about their efforts, visit the bishops’ Justice for Immigrants website.”
Vance and Walz showed Americans how to politely disagree. Here are six Catholic takeaways from their debate.
10/2/24 – The liberals went from holding their breath during Biden’s disastrous debate performance to hyperventilating over Vance’s strong debate performance last night. Maybe try just breathing properly. It was a VP debate a month before the election, when most people have already made up their minds.
But of course, that’s not what this is really about. It’s about their sudden realization, with great fear, that Vance has real political potential. (We wrote about this way back when, after the Republican National Convention.) Ironically, the liberals presumably underwent a similar realization, with great elation, with Kamala Harris. In any case, all the breathless commentary all the time is rather tedious. Breathe.
Childish insults and demeaning comments are beneath Vance, who is obviously not an idiot like a certain person. It is also insulting to his own character and intelligence to cover up for a certain person, especially denying that he lost the election and incited January 6th. Many of us watched it with our own eyes. A certain person lost the election, refused to accept his loss and incited an insurrection. These are the facts, and many if not most Americans agree on them. Don’t insult our intelligence or your own.
We also understand that kissing the ring means reciting the lie. That’s the present state of the Republican Party. Vance’s political prospects are promising, but they would be even more so if he would stop dancing with lies. Also, as far as unpopular positions, such as abortion, both sides ended up sharing their positions but in evasive ways. Late-term abortions are not popular, and that’s why Walz (and Harris) danced around it. An abortion ban is not popular, and that’s why Vance (and a certain person) danced around it. Both men had more in common than misspeaking. They both avoided telling the truth about inconvenient lies and clearly and directly stating what their positions are when they know they are unpopular. Here’s an idea: maybe just tell the truth and moderate those positions.
10/1/24 – Thank you to both VP candidates for a substantive and civil debate. The American people won.
10/1/24 – The propaganda, which doesn’t include The Atlantic, needs to own up to the fact that they have contributed to the dumbing and the decline of the American youth. The proof is in the pudding. If their scientism and their wokeness are so great, then why is the American youth so much worse off? On practically every metric, they are worse off than they were: attention span, productive struggle, intellectual ability, especially critical thinking and analytical ability, writing ability, which has always involved argumentation, creativity and facility with language, mathematical ability, interpersonal skills, mental health, and on and on. There likely isn’t an educator of a certain age that hasn’t noticed a marked decline. It’s pathetic. So, spare us the bulls—t. It’s either there, or it isn’t there. And it’s definitely not there. The propaganda, which is dominated by liberals, often atheists, is in great part to blame for it because they help set the cultural tone for the country. They pushed us and the culture to this place. And now, here we are.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books