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.
Microcosm:
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.
Microcosm:
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!
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
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.
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?
A 40-ish good ole boy during Church coffee hour last Sunday called banana pudding with vanilla wafters “Hillbilly tiramasu.”
I just noticed that my Honest Broker Substack subscription is monthly. Time to take the plunge and go annual.
I’m not always keen on his topics, but when I am he is consistently thought-provoking.
I’m not a Democrat (nor, any longer, a Republican), but based on Bari Weiss’s Free Press interview of Rahm Emmanuel, I’d say he’d be a formidable candidate for POTUS in 2028 - and he is at least testing the waters.
So: I decided that this here troglodyte should oughta figure out why people like Coldplay.
I started streaming them and I don’t think life is long enough for me to figure out why people like Coldplay. It seems awfully “meh.”
Have I grabbed a third rail or something by saying so?
I just love World War II stories like this one about Polina Gelman, a young Russian woman who ended up logging 1,058 combat flight hours. (shared link)
Belatedly, what I did Friday night: I saw the legendary Buddy Guy, still touring at 88 years old. Yeah, he only gave us about 70 minutes, but what active musical legend doesn’t dial it back in his eighties or nineties?
Around 2010, I couldn’t resist Dave Brubeck on tour at around 90 years.
I do have a “big blog” on WordPress. Today’s post seems worth sharing.