David Brooks' column, like Eliot Cohen's before it, produced a hearty round of somber head-nodding from the International Brotherhood of Very Serious People. This was, they all agreed, undeniably true. We must not be tempted to make a deal with the devil. And then, 12 hours later, they all applauded as one of their own made exactly such a deal. Read more
Douglass’ words can be applied to more than one law, policy and initiative of our new president. And his condemnation of the “stupidly blind or most wickedly indifferent ... church of our country" now obsequiously cheering Trump on still rings true. This reinforces the truth and untruth of the blather we're hearing from Donald Trump and Sean Spicer. Trump does not want to highlight such words. But they will become. More and more. Read more
The cast is off and the Slacktivixen is back at work with a full complement of untorn tendons. The doctor says they've healed nicely and that it seems surgery won't be necessary. Thank you, again, to all of you whose generosity and support made it possible for her to take all those weeks off of work. You're amazing and we're so grateful to all of you. Read more
As a general rule, whenever you encounter someone arguing that “We shouldn’t be doing X to help those people over there until we fix Y over here for our own people,” then you have also just encountered someone who doesn’t really give a flying fig about actually doing anything to fix Y over here. Read more
"Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them." Read more
"Donald Trump has issued a number of executive orders targeting vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers, which means your voice of opposition is more critical than ever. History has taught us the deadly consequences of slamming the doors of this country shut on people just because of who they are and where they are from. We must prevent this administration from repeating the mistakes of the past." Read more
The logical sequel to this series of books would be L&J's Inferno -- a journey through Hell in which the authors could savor the anguish and eternal torment of everyone who disagreed with them in this life: the scientists and seminarians; the humanists and humanitarians; the Catholics, Jews, Muslims, atheists, Episcopalians and mid-trib advocates; the thousands who die every day in poverty without ever having heard or accepted the innovations of Adventist eschatology that might have saved their immortal souls. All of these have committed the sin of blasphemy against the teachings of LaHaye, and so all receive their punishments. Read more
So what is Trump hiding? What is it that is so big and so bad that he's had to work so hard to hide it for the past 589 days? We don't know. We can only guess, based on his sheer determination to keep it hidden. Whatever it is, it has to be yuge. Read more
It's all inscrutable and unknowable and mysterious, they say. You cannot read minds or look into the hearts of others to see their intent. So you can never prove they're cheating. Now pay up, because their six aces beats your two pair. Read more
The religion and religious expression condemned by the prophets was something that most of their listeners would have assumed was an obvious virtue. Worship, prayer, offerings, praise, sacrifices, holy days, hymn-singing, church-going -- these were all assumed to be Good Things done by Good People as evidence and consequence of their goodness. "Patriotism" falls into the same sort of category. Read more
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