Ukraine, Omar Smear, Racism, Guns, Climate, Blackface, God on Trial
North Carolina pastor John Pavlovitz describes himself as a newly retired optimist who once believed in checks and balances and the capacity of people to do the right thing. Now he still has some theoretical hope of coming out of retirement and becoming an optimist again.
So today’s outrage is Trump’s bullying of Ukraine to get them to smear his, at this point, likely Democratic opponent. Green Eagle goes to a bubbleheaded headline in the Washington Post to illustrate the inherent problem with mainstream campaign coverage.
News Corpse calls out my President for yet another lie, this one dangerous for his target, as he retweets a message accusing Representative Ilhan Omar of gleefully dancing in celebration of the anniversary of the 9/11 attack. My President includes a video of the celebration, but it turns out the dancing actually occurred on a different day for a different reason. Ilhan Omar was attending a Congressional Black Caucus event on September 13. Fox News covers the whole thing as a clash of different opinions.
Frances Langum watches Republican conduct during a hearing on Violent White Supremacy, as they recruit a Black conservative, Candace Owens, who explains that the entire issue is no big deal and not worth looking into. Move along, folks. No White Nationalist inspired killings worth watching here.
Scotties Toy Box brings personal, very personal, testimony from victims of unanticipated medical costs. After the fact, people get horrific bills for treatment they had been led to believe was covered.
Beto O’Rourke says we will take your AR-15, and assault weapons enthusiasts react, well, explosively. Vixen Strangely at Strangely Blogged notes the unusually personal commonality of the responses. It’s almost as if they are being asked to amputate an important part of the anatomy, the intense personal nature of which would strike at the core of masculine identity, if you get my circumloquacious drift. This is a family blog, after all.
Michael John Scott of MadMikesAmerica takes a close look at the blackface controversy engulfing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and suggests the man is being condemned for having fun twenty years ago.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson supposedly lied to Queen Elizabeth in order to get her to dissolve Parliament. Andy Borowitz reports the Queen is preparing for the PM’s next visit to the palace by training the royal dogs to attack.
Two of the most troublesome issues for thoughtful Christians, at least in my experience, are suffering and evil in the world and evil in ourselves. I have never heard, or expressed, a compelling answer to either, beyond evasion. That doesn’t keep me from my beliefs, but I feel some fidelity to truth, including that truth.
Most of what I have learned about being human came from one individual who angrily rejected the idea of God on exactly that basis. I suppose, had he known, he would have regarded as unforgivably arrogant my private thought that God just may be holding a place of special honor and love for those who reject him out of compassion.
Infidel753 argues against modern Christian reinterpretation of ancient scripture to explain away slavery, genocide, bigotry, and other horrors. The Bible means what it says and religious beliefs that flow from it should be embraced or rejected on that basis.
Hamilton! finally came to a cramped, rundown theatre in Omaha. Max’s Dad came to hate and to mock in his always-entertaining style of rant. Then he stayed to love and praise in …well… an entertaining rant. I haven’t seen the play, but the review is worth the read.
For what it’s worth, The Journal of Improbable Research found an actual conference on cannibalism at the University of Leeds. The schedule included an hour for lunch. No clarity on whether the irony was conscious.