To those who observe, Shana Tovah!
It’s perfect that the rapture that some Christians believe is coming lands on Rosh Hashana, the literal new year for Jews when Adonai opens the Book of Life to scribble down which of us will live this year and which of us will die.
Good luck, everyone, is what I’m saying.— Josh Sternberg (@joshsternberg.com) September 22, 2025 at 10:28 PM
===
Kamala Harris: "It feels chaotic, but what I would offer you is what we are witnessing is the swift implementation of a plan that was decades in the making. Project 2025 didn't just drop out of thin air. That's a product of decades of work. Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation … "
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 22, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Kamala Harris: "We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That's what we're dealing with right now in Donald Trump. And these titans of industry and not speaking up … at some point they've gotta stand up."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
===
Q: How does Trump saying "I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them" square with bringing down the temperature of political violence?
LEAVITT: Look, the president is authentically himself. I think that's why millions of Americans across the country love him.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) September 22, 2025 at 1:36 PM
===
Honestly I can't blame them for raptureposting, because it's the simplest way out of the mess they're making
— Chatham Harrison dba TRUMP DELENDUS EST (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) September 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM
On The Road – Captain C – Netherlands, September 2024 Part 12: Van Gogh Museum Part 1
Baud
Not a lie for once. They love him because he hates us.
Baud
I logged onto Bluesky after several days and they were arguing over Kamala Harris. Will wait a few more days and then try again.
satby
@Baud: yeah, that place has become tedious. Or maybe it’s just me. Here, BS, Substack: it’s all just propagating the same stuff.
Tony Jay
Well, yeah. But in six months time non-crazy people will say to that Trump voter in rural South Dakota that all the GOP/Maga Party have offered by way of policy for decades now is short words or phrases designed to evoke a specific emotional reaction while they destroy the country to fund billionaire tax cuts. So vote for someone else.
And chances are, that Trump voter in rural South Dakota will go red in the face and respond with short words or phrases designed to evoke a specific emotional reaction.
Whatchagonnado?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
One problem with the administration’s actions is that when you’re the party of “empathy is a weakness” and “we’re all going to die sometime” it gets hard to sustain reverence for a martyr. Like, he died sometime, like we’re all going to, and feeling bad about it requires empathy or something like it so five minutes later everyone is moving on.
eclare
I’m worried about my dog. She became very lethargic yesterday morning, just not interested in anything, including treats, although she is eating regular food. She has no energy.
I called my vet, and they didn’t have any appointments today, but I can drop her off at 7:30, and they’ll work her in. I am now also worried about getting a 45 pound dog that has no energy into my car.
Baud
@satby:
There is a lot of repetition. I assume a lot of content is geared towards younger people who haven’t seen the same styles and themes their whole lives.
Happens in pop culture too.
Baud
@eclare:
🙏🤞
eclare
@Baud:
Thanks. The scary thing is that the lethargy came on so fast.
MagdaInBlack
It has just come to my attention that Charlie Kirk was born in Arlington Heights, IL. ( where I live) and raised across the street, Prospect Heights. I am not “from” here but I feel I need to sage smudge the area now.
satby
@eclare: Good luck. Hope she’s ok.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@eclare: Hope your dog is ok but definitely sounds like something that needs to be checked out.
Nukular Biskits
Since this is an open thread (and I submit this is somewhat related; i.e., pests), anyone have any ideas about convincing a young armadillo to relocate his efforts back to the woods?
I have a very determined little bastard digging up my front yard and, short of shooting it (something I’m sure Gulfport PD would frown upon), I’m at a bit of a loss. Repellents don’t seem to work and anyone whose ever tried will tell you they’re damn near impossible to trap.
Suzanne
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Most people who have enough connective tissue in their brains to link the local hospital to whomever they cast their vote for…. didn’t vote for the FFOTUS.
Suzanne
@eclare: Oooooh, good luck to you and doggo. Hugs.
eclare
Fuck. It’s sprinkling. If it is raining at all we can’t go because I would literally have to pick her up and carry her to my car. And I don’t have the strength for that.
ExPatExDem
The only thing missing from the “memorial service” was having a blond teen take the stage and lead the crowd in singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”.
Really would have tied it all together.
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: Good luck to you and your dog, right down to the quantum level. 🙏🏾
Jeffro
the obvious follow-up to Leavitt: “But…isn’t he supposed to be the president of all Americans?”
Baud
@Jeffro:
No. He’s not a Democrat.
NotMax
@Jeffro
LEAVITT: “Comedy gold, Jerry.”
gene108
I hope all the conservative Christians get raptured today. What a wonderful world we can build without them in it.
Ohio Mom
I thought the Rapture required all Jews to return to Israel? Only a smidgen less than half of us live there, the rest of us are scattered all over the world.
I know, silly to expect consistency from that bunch.
@eclare: Check a weather site with radar. There may be a break in the weather about to start that you can time your walk to the car around. Good luck, keep us posted.
Deputinize America
@Nukular Biskits:
Did you try castor oil? That cleared my yard of moles.
Deputinize America
@eclare:
How old is she?
They Call Me Noni
@eclare: I hope it’s nothing serious. Good luck.
Barbara
@eclare: Good luck. I hope it’s minor.
Ocotillo
@Nukular Biskits: It may be he/she is looking for grubs. I had one digging up the back yard and put down some grub killer and they literally stopped the next day.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@eclare: Hope the vet finds what’s going on and can help
eclare
@Deputinize America:
Around five.
Geminid
Appointment Television?
Today at 9:50am, Trump is scheduled to take the podium at the U.N. to deliver a speech to the General Assembly. This morning’s Politico Playbook previews it.
The Mango Metternich will have a more important meeting at the U.N. this afternoon, where he will present a U.S. plan to end the Gaza War and for subsequent reconstruction to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia. Axios’s Barak Ravid has an article on this that I excerpted towards the end of the Late Night “GWAR” post.
Baud
@Geminid:
Yes to GWAR.
No to Gaza War.
Matt McIrvin
@Tony Jay: Well, there’s another thing we’re already starting to see. I saw our YouTube friend Sarah Taber talking about it the other day, and also an ex-conservative US expat on Mastodon going on about it with some eloquence, and I think they have it:
When people who are deep in the natural MAGA core realize that Trumpism isn’t working out for them, they don’t respond like we do. Their instinct is not to vote Democratic or shake a cardboard sign around or donate to ActBlue. Yes, some of them just rage in an undirected way.
But a lot of them have guns and some training in shooting them. They get into conspiracy thinking that can get floridly bizarre. And they’ve been taught that a man uses violence to solve problems.
Of course, when they lash out and shoot somebody, “the left” and liberals and academics and anyone who criticizes Donald Trump gets the blame. But you look into it, and these people usually do not come from liberal backgrounds. They’re people who’d be Trump fans except that reality bit them somehow.
Ramalama
Shameless plug that’s relevant-y: my cousinette has a book out Today about her time living and working in Antarctica. It’s a love story. Hint: she’s an artist writing some stuff about science, and the book is excellent.
Outerspace Is Closer Than Antarctica.
BretH
@eclare: Our last Golden had a similar episode and it turned out to be Lyme. One morning just lethargic suddenly. But countering that our current one was acting in a similar way and we never did find out what that was although she was fine a few days later.
Yeah, not much help, sorry. Hoping your recovers quickly!
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
@Ramalama:
Cool. Congrats to her.
rikyrah
@Ramalama:
Thank you
Ramalama
@eclare: when our 125 pound boy was still alive, Malamute with David Bowie eyes, and had a torn acl, we used a towel underneath his belly to help transport him down the stairs and into the car. Took two of us. Maybe putting a towel underneath your dog will help you move her, or alert her to start moving on her own.
Hoping for the best!
rikyrah
The Vice President is absolutely correct about the lack of courage by “The Masters of the Universe”😒
eclare
@Ramalama:
Sounds interesting!
eclare
@Ramalama:
Thanks for reminding me. I did that for my 80 pound pit mix years ago when he tore his.
Ramalama
@rikyrah: I’d love nothing more than people start referring to these poisonous chuckleheads as The Misters of the Universe.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
And for a very expansive definition of ‘us’ too. Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, gay, trans, and other Americans of non-standard gender identity, white liberals, women of any political stripe who insist on the right to control their own lives…the list goes on.
Now any given MAGAt may only hate some of those people, but the important thing from their POV is, whoever they hate, Trump almost certainly shares their hate.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Nukular Biskits:
What Ocotillo said at #28.
They finally made it north enough when we were back in Central Misery over the last couple of years. I could never trap the bastards. One night almost got one but then chased it all over the place till it holed up underneath our deck out back.
Since they’re nocturnal, even trying to shoot them is tough.
And don’t touch em as many carry leprosy.
Apply grub treatment and hope for the best.
Baud
@Ramalama:
Or the Bastards of the Universe.
Librettist
Generally this beat ends with a tearful contrition in front of the congregation, or someone jumping out of the ring and laying the heel out with a chair.
Baud
@Librettist:
They are planning a UFC cage fight at the White House for next July 4.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist:
But where it gets complicated is that when the list gets long enough, some of them start to realize that they ARE some of those people.
Ramalama
@Baud: yeah I like that better. It’s got their much derided -tard in it, also messes with notions of legacy.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s right wing intersectionality. People who hate different groups of people joining together to promote a culture of hate and oppression.
lowtechcyclist
@gene108:
I’m afraid we’re going to get disappointed yet again. ;-)
Jesus said to love one’s enemies, yet they worship an orange idol who is forthright about hating his enemies.
There’s some weird business about ‘dispensations’ – they’re like eras or something, AFAICT – that apparently a lot of RW Christianists buy into, and apparently by this ‘dispensational’ theology, practically all of Christ’s words apply to some future ‘dispensation’ so they don’t have to pay attention to all that ‘woke’ stuff he said in the here and now. At least, that’s my general understanding, I can’t say I’ve really tried to grasp it in any detail.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: THAT is disturbingly appropriate. “Right wing intersectionality” exists so they can join together in attacking all those they hate.
Intersectionality for the rest of us is just banding together for the common defense.
eclare
Well I can’t get my dog into my car. I’m going to call my vet and try to get an appt for tomorrow and then text my neighbor to see if he’ll help me. I just don’t feel comfortable texting him before 7 asking him to come over now.
She did eat breakfast, plain grilled chicken. She seems to like that, and it’s bland.
Baud
@eclare:
Eating is good.
Ramalama
@Baud: wondering foolishly now about those people who love the sinner but hate the sin.
Is there an intersection for them or are they in, as certain anglophones say in French, a tru de cul ? A Dead end, but also a term for arsehole.
Pronounced by me only sometimes as a Trudy Cool.
Mr. Mack
@Deputinize America: What is this sorcery you speak of? Castor oil???!!! How did you apply it. Also, I have an armadillo that continuously digs around in my flower garden but doesn’t bother the plants, so I leave him be. But the moles have to go.
Baud
@Ramalama:
As far as I can tell, hating the sin always takes precedence over loving the sinner.
mappy!
@lowtechcyclist: An odd thing about the “us” in the 60’s was that all the hate and ridicule piled on us, turned into mullet heads in the 70s. The perennial problem would seem to be that they want to look like us and really want to be us. ; – ) (Corporate America figured this out and cashed in…)
eclare
My neighbor said he’d help me get Lucy in the car tomorrow. Whew.
He is a dog person too, with a dog named Boo.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Yes, they believe that God alters the fundamental laws of morality every so often, and that the love-thy-neighbor stuff is really about the Millennial Kingdom, which will come a couple of steps further along the process, after Jesus returns as a laser-eyed conqueror and annihilates all of his enemies with glorious and gory mass violence, like some cosmic Emperor Dalek.
There are different factions that put the episodes in different orders depending on what version of this 19th-century pseudobiblical crackpottery they follow, but for the popular “pre-Trib, pre-Millennial” version, the Rapture is followed by the Tribulation in which the Antichrist rises to power and rules over the preterite heathen as a false Messiah, followed by the return of violent kaiju Christ and the Battle of Armageddon, then Christ rules over a weirdly transformed Earth as a benevolent totalitarian dictator for a thousand years, then Satan returns and gets defeated one last time and I guess everything is terrific after that.
None of this is remotely in the Bible but they paste together and reinterpret various passages from different books into a kind of fanfic exegesis to justify it; it’s a free riff on Revelation and Isaiah and Daniel and a bunch of other stuff.
Those “Left Behind” books that were big some years ago were basically a turgid epic set in this fictional universe.
lowtechcyclist
@eclare:
Hope your dog gets better. Any friends you can call to help get her to the car and the vet?
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
More sequels than the Fast and the Furious.
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: I’ve been saying it since 2015, he hates the same people they hate and gives them permission to hate them openly. That’s why they love him so much.
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: Good luck with your dog!
schrodingers_cat
OT is any juicer going to do this year’s Inktober? Last year I did about half the prompts and I was in India most of October.
Betty Cracker
@eclare: I hope she’s okay! It’s such a helpless feeling when pets are ill. Eating is a great sign!
schrodingers_cat
@lowtechcyclist: Oh you forgot xenophobia, that’s what launched him into the RW stratosphere. And he has delivered on that promise.
trnc
I don’t suppose any reporter followed up with “Wasn’t Jimmy Kimmel authentically being himself?”
Spanky
I’m all for these turds to self-rapture, if they’re so damn holy.
jonas
Indeed. You can ensure anyone you know worried about this Rapture business that it was all made up by a 19th century lay theologian who had no idea what he was talking about.
Booger
@Matt McIrvin: Kaiju Christ implies the existence of Jaeger Christ, kinda like that thing in Rio De Janeiro or wherever, but with two neurolinked pilots. I’d be down with that!
trnc
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Especially since he explicitly stated that dying that way is totally worth it for the 2nd amendment (notwithstanding the twisted view of it from that side).
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: The most important thing is that if you’re a good evangelical, you get bodily Raptured without having to go through the unpleasant process of dying, and you can watch and enjoy all this suffering safely from Heaven until you come back in your upgraded immortal body to live in the Millennial Kingdom.
As to why it has to happen in this complicated way, well, nobody knows but it is written. In the exegetical notes of your Scofield Reference Bible.
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: It’s a way for them to justify behaving the way they want to behave despite what’s in the book they say is a holy guide to life. Many of them don’t want to love their neighbor unless their neighbor is like them. It’s bullshit, I’ve never heard of God “changing morality” from time to time. I remember when right-wing Christians frowned on what they called “situational morality”, and what most people call “consider the circumstances”.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
It does make it seem like God’s true name is Rube Goldberg.
narya
@Matt McIrvin: And Fred Clark (Slacktivist) did a very lengthy deconstruction of the books at one point a long time ago. I didn’t read all of it, but it was fascinating; Clark is from that world so understood WTF they were doing. It’s pretty much necessary to get an insider (or, better, ex-insider) to explain it all, and even then it sounds completely off the rails. Honestly, all of this stuff sounds to me like a permission structure to hate and exploit others, which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much the opposite of the Christian message.
Librettist
@trnc:
The kooks are already wandering off into “magic bullets” and instant ballistic expertise.
Eric S.
@Baud: With less plausibility
Baud
@narya:
I think, as with the USA, what Christianity stands for depends on who you ask.
trnc
@Ohio Mom:
Wow. A quorum requirement seems like a major loophole. If only God had mentioned in his musings that there were some big ass land masses pretty far away from Jerusalem that people might eventually move to.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: well, YOU don’t get to make new “dispensations” happen, GOD does it so it’s OK then.
The thing that really strikes me about all of it is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of difference between the good guys and the bad guys aside from team affiliation. God’s team is the more powerful one in the end and that’s the most important thing.
narya
@Baud: True. That’s what was so helpful and interesting about Clark’s explanations: the authors say THIS because they believe THAT.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Anyone who proudly displays their religion in their bio, saying proud xxxx is usually a pompous obnoxious ass.
xxxx : can be any religion
They use their over religiosity as a stick to beat others with.
Matt McIrvin
@trnc:
Joseph Smith has entered the chat
(The Mormons, now, they don’t go for any of this stuff, that’s a whole other ball of wax.)
Josie
@Baud:
Nominated!
WendyBinFL
@Ramalama: Just bought an e-copy of your cousin Michelle Ott’s book! Woohoo!
RedDirtGirl
@eclare: Sorry to hear that. Hope she’s okay!!!
BC in Illinois
Most of world Christianity doesn’t buy into the “Rapture” theories.
Even those that do, try to remember that we are told not to put our faith in fortune tellers.
Back in the 1980s-90s, I worked in a church-related publishing company, when a rumor of the rapture came through. We were not caught up in it.
We did, however, figure that if it did happen and all of the true Christians were taken out of the world, we would lose almost all of our customers, most of our authors, and a lot of the editorial department.
But we would still have the marketing department.
Sandia Blanca
@eclare: “Me and you and a dog named Boo”? It’s good to have helpful neighbors. Also, is there a mobile vet in your community? I hope she feels better soon.
They Call Me Noni
@eclare: That she did eat something is a good sign. Maybe it’s just an upset tummy. Has she used the bathroom? How did it look?
Kirk
@trnc: there is a splinter that says only “True Jews” count. I am not going down that rabbit hole any more but i bet you can guess some of the major threads. Except to note that it justifies antisemitism by claiming it’s not really antisemitism since they’re not really jews.
narya
@Matt McIrvin: There’s a SF/F series I was reading, written by a Mormon (not Sanderson), and . . . two of the main characters are reading/translating texts from metal tablets that only one of them can read. And a vampire, IIRC. I finally gave up on it.
Professor Bigfoot
@eclare: Eating is always a good sign. Bonne chance.
zhena gogolia
@eclare: Good luck!
Iron City
@Baud:
“It does make it seem like God’s true name is Rube Goldberg.” Or Heath Robinson, depending.
Belafon
@Ohio Mom:
Who gets to define who is Jewish?
Professor Bigfoot
They hate us ‘cause they ain’t us.
prostratedragon
A thread on the New Year
JeanneT
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’ve been reading about armadillos with my grandkid – turns out 9 banded armadillos can GET leprosy, but it is not carried by many of the critters. According to an undated article from the University of Florida: “Leprosy in wild armadillos has been reported at rates ranging from 0.5% to 10% in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Mexico. However, no infections have been found in the more than 2,500 armadillos examined in Florida.”
The armadillos initially caught leprosy from Europeans moving into the Americas.
We also learned that only the 3 banded armadillos (from South America) can roll up into a ball.
Baud
Slightly sensationalized headline but interesting survey.
Ramalama
@WendyBinFL: hooooooooooo ya. Hope you enjoy!
Cousinette also makes postcards, part of her artwork is this notion and thing called the Postcard Machine, it’s a Patreon deal but she also has a huge cardboard box also called the postcard machine. Thinking of tying this in, her work, with Jackals postcard campaigns…..maybe later.
Matt McIrvin
@narya: The original, 1970s “Battlestar Galactica” cribbed a bunch of its lore from Mormon theology and lore and put a science-fiction gloss on it. Commander Adama was basically space Brigham Young. There was an epic two-parter where they get into eternal progression and Patrick Macnee basically plays the Devil.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Well if the 100,000 per H1-B application decision stays, it will affect rural hospitals and universities the hardest. Its like eating your seed corn to satisfy your xenophobic hatred.
Tech will be the least affected. They can off shore many of their positions. To Vancouver or other Canadian cities if proximity to the US is essential or anywhere in the world if it is not.
eclare
@They Call Me Noni:
I haven’t seen any diarrhea or vomiting. An upset tummy was my neighbor’s guess too. So nothing but plain grilled chicken today.
Raoul Paste
@schrodingers_cat: As a corollary , if a vendor overtly advertises their religion, hold onto your wallet.
schrodingers_cat
@Raoul Paste: You got that right. That’s the true mark of a grifting charlatan.
hueyplong
@Baud: I’m afraid I have to nominate, too.
Deputinize America
Apropos for our slide into an American evangelical megachurch theocracy:
youtube.com/watch?v=XZegqJtrtjc
Soprano2
@schrodingers_cat: My husband always said he grabbed his wallet any time one of his customers starting talking about their religion and displaying it overtly, because he knew they probably wanted a discount or something like that. He didn’t trust them at all, with good reason.
eclare
@schrodingers_cat:
Memphis is not a rural area, but when my parents were in the hospital, probably half of the orderlies, doctors, nurses, etc were from overseas.
One of my doctors is from Syria.
Professor Bigfoot
There are 11 banded armadillos and 3 banded armadillos and some of them can roll up into a ball and I knew NONE of this— TRULY a full service blog!
schrodingers_cat
@eclare: Rural areas and cities, especially inner cities too. Most US born doctors don’t like to practice there, it is definitely not their first preference.
Steve in the ATL
@eclare: you could take her up to the Perkins on Poplar near Highland–their food is plenty bland!
Jeffro
Leavitt: “maybe…but look at his ratings! It’s all about the ratings, dontcha know. And the president’s are the bestest ever!”
Soprano2
@schrodingers_cat: I was surprised they would do this because of tech, but maybe the tech people want this; it’s an excuse to offshore a lot of jobs. It seems crazy to me, and especially the way it was “rolled out” was chaotic. This whole government is crazy chaotic. Chaotic evil, is what they are.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat: US born doctors want better golf courses than rural areas can provide
eclare
@Ramalama:
I just ordered the hardback, looks fascinating.
schrodingers_cat
@Soprano2: I doubt it. It has Bannon’s and Miller’s pawprints all over it. They particularly hate that many tech CEOS are Indian born naturalized citizens.
eclare
@Steve in the ATL:
Hahaha…
Jeffro
It shouldn’t take but a few more years for this to show up w/ K-12 educators, doctors, nurses, etc. Great Migration II: The Outta MAGA-land Boogaloo. Then we really will be two separate countries.
Deputinize America
@Soprano2:
Never trust the business that prominently displays the fish symbol.
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the ATL: Maybe. I don’t know too many of them. One US born MD I knew wanted to be in Galveston because he wanted to work for NASA which he did for many years before going into private practice.
Also many rural hospitals are in danger of shutting down because they lack doctors and other medical staff. Speak of cutting your nose to spite your face.
Belafon
@Soprano2: Tech offshored a bunch of jobs, and then found out it’s quite expensive to do that and keep the business in the US, so they moved a bunch of their overseas employees here. So they may decide it’s better to move out of the US.
Deputinize America
@Steve in the ATL:
They also like airports with only one flight to a hub, decent grocery shopping, car dealerships that can service new cars and a couple of decent restaurants.
Ramalama
All this talk of religion and here I am on a haphazard vacation in Gaspe, Quebec. Where am I sitting right now? On a bed in a convent. There’s one remaining nun living on her own floor here. She’s in her nineties and does stained glass. The rest of the convent has about 3 visitors about 6 mishap adults, who run the place or live here?
rock star wannabes who are in their 60s, and yes they are lay persons.
hueyplong
I’ve worked on more than one fraud case in which the victims were preyed upon by a member of their church and they were hooked by their perception that the perp was “a good Christian.” It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. I tended to want to tip my cap to the fraudster for recognizing the easiest marks.
schrodingers_cat
There are some bad players, in the h1-B space especially in the tech sector but it does not warrant an evisceration of the program.
Its like cutting off your leg because you twisted your ankle.
Betty Cracker
Speaking of armadillos, here’s one I saw on my way to a swimming hole a while back.
Gin & Tonic
@Geminid:
I think I may have to change the oil in the lawnmower. Or take out the recycling. So many important things to do.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
What they call ‘loving the sinner’ must, in their minds, start with telling the sinner how they’re sinning and what they must do to be saved.
It’s why Pratchett’s “sin is treating people as things” has become such a central part of my belief system. Because their definition of loving the sinner is fundamentally about treating people as things. You are one of group A, so we must tell you X, Y and Z about what you’re doing wrong and how you must repent. No human connection, no getting to actually understand the person, the human being, they’re talking to, is needed. They can treat you as a thing, and call that ‘love.’
And while the words ‘sin is treating people as things’ may be found nowhere in the Bible, c’mon, how can loving your neighbor as yourself involve treating them as a thing? Seems to me like a direct corollary.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: On the bright side, if they are televising the whole speech, there can be no sane-washing.
Will he be lucid?
Maybe. I think they save the special drug combination for when he really can’t look crazy.
sab
@Betty Cracker: That lirttle guy is so mich cuter than my neighborhood possum.
Jackie
@eclare: Fingers crossed! Her eating normally is a positive sign!
Is she peeing and pooping normally?
Ohio Mom
@Belafon: Even Jews can’t agree on who is Jewish!
But even if you are only counting Haredi (the super duper ultra orthodox), lots of them live in the Disapora (Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Monsy, a little town just north of NYC and south of the Catskills, etc.). Now they are all very committed to Israel, visit as often as they can and have family there. But they still live here, not Israel.
I’ve long maintained that Judaism will one day split, like Christianity did during the Protestant Reformation. I didn’t ever expect to live to see the day but I don’t know, we may be on our way.
Ohio Mom
@prostratedragon: That was lovely, and inspiring.
Queen of Lurkers
@Baud: I don’t think the headline sensationalized. I am in the trenches. Many mid-level professors are jumping ship at our university. The Associate Prof. layer is hollowed out. I have had multiple conversations with colleagues who are hanging on because they are close to retirement (3-5 years).
They Call Me Noni
@eclare: Poor baby. Let us know what the vet says.
WaterGirl
@Queen of Lurkers: Yeah, unless they are close to retirement, or very close to getting tenure, who wouldn’t bail?
Even those on tenure track, close to getting it, get your tenure and then get the hell out!
RevRick
@gene108: Sorry, no Rapture today…or ever. It’s a fundamental misreading and misunderstanding of the passage in 1 Thessalonians. Paul’s contemporaries would have gotten the allusion. When Christ returns, he won’t suck the “good” people off the planet and leave the rest behind. No, he’ll “come down” and join us.
Another Scott
@Deputinize America: A morning with Jethro Tull is almost always a good morning.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
They Call Me Noni
@RevRick: Well won’t he be in for a shocker because if he comes to Murika he’ll promptly be disappeared somewhere.
Deputinize America
@RevRick:
They’re just desperate to duck the MasterCard bill.
Matt McIrvin
@hueyplong: Evangelicals are huge into multilevel marketing because the attitude of complete trust based on in-group identity, combined with the prosperity gospel according to which God wants the faithful to get rich and will materially reward total commitment, makes it incredibly fertile ground for MLMs to propagate. That’s one of the reasons alt-medicine woo has taken hold there: multilevel marketing of quacky supplements.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Tony Jay: I don’t think anyone expects them to vote blue, what is more likely is they simply can’t be bothered to show up and vote because “both sides are the same”.
princess leia
It’s Fat Bear Week~~ voting starts today! youtube.com/watch?v=chJPe9nBXzA
UncleEbeneezer
@trnc: Or Barrack Obama when he said Trayvon Martin could’ve been his son? Or Hillary when she said Deplorables were only a small fraction of Republicans?
UncleEbeneezer
@Belafon: Obviously that’s the job of Anti-Zionist Progressives (while they are determining which individuals we should boycott, discriminate against, scapegoat and alienate).
arrieve
@Geminid: Thanks for the heads up–I knew the UN was in session but didn’t realize the orange idiot would be here. Traffic is going to be a nightmare and I have to be on the Upper East Side later this afternoon.
I think I’ll take a bus up the west side and walk across the park.
Matt McIrvin
@BC in Illinois: The other modern religious-right trend that fascinates me is the ultraconservative Protestants (particularly politically powerful or prominent ones, like Newt Gingrich and Robert Bork and JD Vance!) converting to ultraconservative Catholicism.
The Catholics, of course, don’t go in for any of this End Times stuff either, and they’ve got this inconvenient liberation-theology streak. But the right-wingers like the pageantry and authoritarian hierarchy, the rich heritage of myth and miracle and the theocratic history. They’ve got the integralists who straight-up want to replace all secular government with theocratic rule by the Church.
And there are a few of them who decided that wasn’t hardcore enough and became ultraconservative Eastern Orthodox because they think they do it even harder. I had an online friend who became a priest in one of these fringey ultraconservative Orthodox splinter churches and he got very, very weird. Started going on and on about how we’d lost the virtue of total obedience, and all the miracles he’d personally witnessed that were only available to the Orthodox, and how the ideal form of government existed in the Byzantine Empire.
lowtechcyclist
@RevRick:
Spoilsport! ;-)
Paul in KY
@Nukular Biskits: Don’t see why it couldn’t be trapped with one of those mesh trapdoor things. Just bait it with yummy bugs in bowl beyond the trip plate and (this is important) cover the trap up (except for opening) with a towel or blanket to make it dark and inviting. May catch other things also. Too. Can be the drawback with using those.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
And of course, the number of women in the Roman Catholic hierarchy has been, is, and will for the foreseeable future, continue to be ZERO. That the Church has always been and apparently always will be run completely by men is probably a big selling point for these dorks.
Citizen Alan
@Baud: And the feeling is mutual.
Paul in KY
@Belafon: Rapture them all. The Lord will know his own…
Kristine
@eclare: best wishes for your pup.
MisterForkbeard
@Matt McIrvin: This seems like Tyler Robinson? Raised heavily conservative, immersed in online meme culture. Had some issues, but the problem with Charlie Kirk may be specifically because he was involved with a transwoman, and NOW the right wing has finally started to impact his life negatively.
Glidwrith
@They Call Me Noni: And then we’ll get the whole “Nazis shouldn’t have opened the Ark” scene from Indiana Jones.
Ramalama
@eclare: thank you
Gloria DryGarden
@MagdaInBlack: gods. I was probably in school with whoever became his mom. Arlington heights. Jeez.