Lancaster County is doing both. It has ended homelessness among veterans in the county and it is welcoming and assisting desperate refugees fleeing ISIS's brutality in Syria. It is doing both because in order to be the kind of community that is capable of doing one it had to also be the kind of community capable of doing the other. Read more
Don't lie to me and pretend you're suddenly concerned about the common good right here at home and that that's why you oppose doing even something as depressingly minimal as sheltering 10,000 refugees. Don't lie to me and don't lie to yourself by suddenly pretending that you're concerned about homeless veterans here in America. No one is fooled by your unconvincing performance of an imitation of concern. No one. Not even you yourself. Read more
The Economist explains why the investigation and screening that already occurs makes it the least likely route for potential terrorists to try to enter the U.S. Dahlia Lithwick, Laurel Reiman Henneman, and George Takei on the disgraceful history of American concentration camps and the awful Supreme Court validation of them. And Adam Kotsko on the only kind of logic that can lead to this irrational, heartless, fearful politics (Hint: It's racism). Read more
Tim & Jerry are laughing all the way to the bank. They're reaping millions from these slapdash books without putting in the effort that even a semi-competent novel would require, the effort that their readers deserve. (Jenkins has said that each of the books in the series took him about 28 days to write.) This is a form of stealing. Read more
This is not history. This is today. It's right now. And all the horrified students who have read the histories of the 20th century and asked "How could they ...? Why did they ...?" Are seeing the answer, played out live, on TV and on the campaign trail. This is how they could and how they did. This is how that happened. This is how that is happening. Read more
We have a very confused azalea bush in our back yard. Also: Ben Carson loses Vermont; the Black Tax on car insurance, confirmed; within weeks they'll be reopening the shipyard; frozen cave lion cubs; and a vintage sit-com that seems ripe for reinvention. Read more
For a few glorious weeks in the early 21st century, we had this thing called "Trackback." It was terrific. You'd write something on your blog or website and it would ferret out any other blog posts or websites engaging with that content. It spawned links and conversations and cross-pollinations that would never have otherwise occurred. It got us talking -- and listening. Read more
How to have a more authentic, abundant faith in the redeeming power of bombs and hand grenades. Plus: A bombshell DEET-free mosquito repellant; Jordan Anderson's epic mic-drop; a Calvinist limerick; and the strange-but-true career of a 19th-century ex-Mormon professional Indian. Read more
"As Blanche rattled off song titles, LaVey doodled away on two or three of his keyboards at once: 'Somebody Loves Me,' 'Embraceable You,' even 'Rhapsody in Blue.' ... He finished his medley with a great flourish and looked up. 'Gershwin was a good Satanist,' he said." Read more
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," the epistle says. But anywhere and everywhere are beyond my finite ability to comprehend, to act or to pay attention. Fortunately, the letter continues, and the following sentences point toward something that can help us to move beyond the prejudices of our affinities or the paralysis of our finitude. Read more
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