There's a bit of folk-wisdom that says you should never lend money to a friend unless you are willing to part with one or the other for good -- either the money or the friend. Something like that is true when it comes to lending your integrity to friends. You'll need to be willing to part with one or the other because it may turn out that you'll only be able to keep one of them, and you should decide ahead of time which is more important to you. Read more
"Let me tell you something major," Dirk says. In the immediate aftermath of the mass disappearances, it takes someone with an unhealthy tunnel-vision to think that "something major" could mean anything other than, say, revealing what happened to all those people, or what might happen next. But what Dirk means by "something major" is instead this: an unscheduled special election in Romania. Read more
If we can find someone worse to compare ourselves to, then we can feel better about ourselves without having to change anything we're doing or anything we're becoming. Alas, however, this technique only works briefly before it begins producing diminishing returns. So we will need to identify some person or group who are even worse, and then worse still. This is a process of slothful imagination and it always ends up in the same way, with the same lazy stock character of the Very Worst People we can imagine. Yes, that's right, say it with me: Satanic baby-killers. Read more
I had to work last night, so I missed the Republican primary debate, which I understand ended a short time ago. From what I read on Twitter, this debate taught us that vaccines are dangerous, America is not a planet, and we're apparently going to put former British prime ministers on U.S. currency. Here's an open thread to discuss the debate, a better list of women deserving to be honored on our currency, and/or what you would hope your Secret Service codename would be if you were ever elected president. Read more
"Which one of your children do you love the most?" is an infamous question* because it requires us to negotiate the meaning of that verb "love." Granted, that word has many competing definitions, but the meanings of "love" that I think are most essential don't allow for it to be treated as a zero-sum game bound by the economics of scarcity. Love for one child does not and ought not to diminish love for the others. Read more
"If something wasn't happening, why do so many intelligent, well-educated professionals believe it is?" Lanning says. "Regardless of intelligence and education, and often despite common sense and evidence to the contrary, adults tend to believe what they want or need to believe; the greater the need, the greater the tendency. There was a need to believe." Read more
The "Jade Helm" military training exercise ends without anything like any of the right-wing conspiracy theories about it coming true, thereby confirming those theories for the right wing and ensuring that the name Jade Helm will live on, like Whitewater and Benghazi, in the endlessly invoked litany of non-existent proofs of liberal nefariousness. Also: Ranking holiness; glib and woolly moralizing; the arrest of a gamergater; and the Worst Movie Break-In of All Time. Read more
Some good news from Lancaster County -- or, if you're Republican candidate Ben Carson, evidence of insidious "political correctness" in Amish country. Plus: A nickname for the ages; farewell to Rick Perry; Cardinal Burke and Homeland Security; Countee Cullen; and how a theologian gets more interesting when he stops needing to satisfy people who can never be satisfied. Read more
Duncan Black and Juan Cole on humanitarian bombs and the refugees they create. Shaun King on his daily encounters with Christians. Imani Gandy on the racist lies about Margaret Sanger told by those trying to convince themselves they're being anti-racist. And the amazing Dr. Hawa Abdi, in her own voice. Read more
"I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and mildew and hail; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord." Read more
Select your answer to see how you score.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In