I kind of wish a certain microblogger hadn’t mentioned and hyperlinked his Freewrite Traveler, since he has demonstrated that I’m not entirely over acquisitiveness.

I’m not sure I ever kept a computer this long – since 2020.

Part of it is that I’m less acquisitive as I get older, suffering less from FOMO.

But mostly it’s that a 2020 MacBook Air M1 continues, after 5 years. to astonish me - a word guy, not a video guy - with its speed and capability.

The autocracy is no longer “creeping”

Word of the day: minatory

I like travel, but my wife doesn’t (I think it’s hereditary). So I look for travel videos on YouTube.

I’d call most of them bush league except for fear of offending the bush leagues.

But I’ve found a good one: Restless Viking, feature a pair of empty nesters who actually learn about places they’re showing. So far, most of what I’ve seen is Great Lakes area, which is fine by me because I’m in a state on Lake Michigan (barely). An area where I’ve been going for twenty years, seen through their eyes, was a revelation; most of what they said was new to me.

Any other recommended travel spots on YouTube?

Every Sunday, my “big blog” focuses on the disputed category “religion.” Here’s today’s, mostly curated items from others.

Some conservative writers I respect are going on about how gerrymandering is normal.

I know that. But what about redistricting in the middle of the decade with no fresh census data to support it? Justify that if you can.

I recall no precedent for that.

FIRE is proud to be filing a suit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio, challenging two federal immigration law provisions that give him unchecked power to revoke legal immigrants’ visas and deport them for protected speech.

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Macrocosm:

Trumpism can be seen as a giant attempt to amputate the highest aspirations of the human spirit and to reduce us to our most primitive, atavistic tendencies.

David Brooks

Microcosm:

Hegseth’s Headlong Pursuit of Academic Mediocrity

You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God,
revealing Your glory to Your Disciples as far as they could bear it.
Let Your everlasting Light also shine upon us sinners,
through the prayers of the Theotokos!
O Giver of Light, glory to You!

(Hymn for Transfiguration, August 8)

USA Today Network, of all places, noticed a potential problem with the rapid and extreme expansion of ICE via signing bonuses and generous pay: the further decimation of already-understaffed local police and sheriff departments

The opposite of war is not peace, but liturgy – the cognitive, bodily, totalizing act that steadily increases communion, instead of cutting it. Liturgy is an act that purifies and knits the character together, whereas trauma unravels our character. In liturgy, I give my life for my brother and sister, I renounce retaliation, and I give my very body and blood for the life of the entire world.

Timothy Patitsas, The Ethics of Beauty

Reading Timothy Patitsas, The Ethics of Beauty. 📚 I don’t know what I was expecting (except a book that a lot of people I trust recommended), but this wasn’t it. It’s better than that.

Well, how ‘bout that? My “dissent” made it into Andrew Sullivan’s post today!

First lab work since Mounjaro. All the serum glucose-related figures are now normal (barely) or virtually normal (0.01 over a 6.30 high normal). Well worth the trivial side effects I’ve had so far.

From the New York Times, Thin, White and Right: The Ideal Christian Woman.

Can anyone Evangelical or Evangelical-adjacent tell me whether the Times was nutpicking? Is this prominent in the Evangelical mainstream?

If they’re nutpicking, I’m inclined to drop it; if not, holy smokes!

A lot has changed, but the fundamentals have stayed the same, since @ayjay wrote this in the eye of the storm, 2020-21.

For what it’s worth, I was crazy for Tom Lehrer’s comedic songs in my youth, and regret his not-at-all untimely death. RIP

Reading Fr. Meletios Webber, Bread & Water, Wine & Oil. 📚

With dew points in the 80s (F), our windows are fogged on the outside.

I believe I’ve passed the age
Of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight.
I once believed in causes too,
I had my pointless point of view,
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right.

(Billy Joel)

This angry old blogger says “ouch.”

Delighted to encounter the “Bloggers Karamazov: The Official Blog of The North American Dostoevsky Society.”

It’s the name that delights me. And the apparent inclusion of my friend Octavian Gabor as a member.

One of Peggy Noonan’s real gems published digitally today, in print tomorrow. Trump Never Say ‘No” to a Fight, Fight, Fight (gift link)

Why won’t the Epstein story die? Why is it the longest new-cycle of Trump 2.0?

1. Trump’s a lame duck.
2. People are imagining a world where he’s not President.
3. In that world, it will matter whether you were arguing for transparency or cool with coverup.

The Remnant podcast.

A 40-ish good ole boy during Church coffee hour last Sunday called banana pudding with vanilla wafters “Hillbilly tiramasu.”