1. John Hagee is an anti-gay bigot and a heretical “Bible prophecy” nutter. He’s prone to saying outrageous, dumb and offensive things, like telling atheists and humanists concerned about their religious rights to “exercise your right to leave the country; planes are leaving every hour on the hour, get on one.”
But this is also John Hagee:
I’d love the chance to try to explain to Hagee why the eschatology of a New Orleans jazz funeral is incompatible with the “Bible prophecy” eschatology he preaches, but I doubt he’d welcome that conversation.
2. This is what happens — and what will keep on happening — as long as the Second Amendment is surrendered to the NRA. The National Rifle Association represents the gun industry — corporations that make money manufacturing and selling guns. The NRA’s main concern — and when push comes to shove, its only concern — is not the right of citizens to bear arms, but the right of arms makers to sell as many guns as they can. Those are not the same thing.
Allowing the NRA to continue pretending those are the same thing just makes the Second Amendment subservient to its larger goal of selling, selling, selling.
3. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas. Texas.
4. Art Pope really is the Old Man Potter of North Carolina.
5. Joseph Carens on the ethics of immigration:
For every crime except very serious felonies, there’s a statute of limitations. It varies from state to state and from crime to crime. There’s an understanding that, after a while, it doesn’t matter anymore. You shouldn’t be forever vulnerable for some minor wrong that you did in the past. There’s a direct analogy here. If people have have lived here peacefully for a number of years, the fact that they violated some law in coming is not as important as their ongoing social membership. That’s the main argument for why they should be able to stay. The initial violation of the law is just not as important morally as the reality of their membership.
6. Sarah Moon: “What if God cares more about sexism than about how much you masturbate?”
If we were able to break out of this cycle of self-hatred, self-improvement, and self-righteousness over “don’t harm anyone but God” “sins,” we might wake up and notice the systems that oppress us and the systems that privilege us at the expense of others. …
If the concept of sin is going to be at all useful in working toward a just world, it needs to be about systems of oppression and our place in perpetuating them. It needs to be about our affirmation of the humanity of others, and our commitment to treating them justly. Otherwise, the concept is just a tool that helps those in power control others and keep them preoccupied.
7. We shouldn’t go through the full 12 days of Christmas without some Ramones:
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In