“My son is a very good person who I’ve known for a long time .” - literally no one ever until this guy.

HOLY SHIT prosecutors kicked off grand jurors and then re-presented the case against the Broadview 6, then altered the grand jury transcripts to hide it from the judge. www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

The tip jar as always. We're having a terrible time with the rising prices and had to take out even more debt to get the car fixed, so consider a visit to the tip jar when you can! Thank you! More writing soon! www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

Where, exactly, is the Church? If it’s with Mike Scanlan, then hell would be preferable. At least I’d see my grandfather. Unless, of course, the Church is something entirely different. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

You will deconstruct and reconstruct your faith many times, and doubt is one step in the process. You can’t not do that. That is part of being a Christian. And it’s been this way from the beginning. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’ll have fun with you here. Do you want to color some more?” “Make a sign,” said the Princess, “That says ‘No Boys Allowed! Yes Girls Allowed!'” www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

“This is called a free sample,” I said, unwrapping an orange one. “She’ll pay you for the next one she takes.” The Princess enjoyed her treat while Jimmy’s boy sternly reiterated that that was the last one she could have on the house. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

One day, Corey and his gang disrupted a meeting of our Charismatic community. The Charismatics showed up at our house for an interminable prayer session every other Sunday, and I loathed them. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

Frances, whoever she really is, would be an old woman now. I hope she wears clothes she likes and goes by a name that seems right to her. I hope she is still assertive. I hope she prophesies. Most of all, though, I hope she is happy. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

Sister Angeline approached sister Martha and told her that she’d gotten a “word from the Lord.” Sister Angeline was always getting “words from the Lord.” She wreaked havoc with her words from the Lord. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

I thought of the times I’d been afraid to read the funny papers at my grandparents’ house, because the horoscopes were printed next to the comics. I was terrified that if my eye accidentally wandered to the horoscopes, I’d commit a mortal sin and become possessed.

Here’s what I’m going to say, to any of my readers who have survived the Charismatic Renewal or another cult or high-control religious movement: don’t behave. I’m serious Don’t behave. You can be a good person, an ethical and moral person, and even a saint, but don’t behave.

I had no idea I was yet another human sacrifice to Father Mike Scanlan’s cult of personality, and I’d never recover financially, spiritually or emotionally from all that happened next. I didn’t know the Charismatic Renewal was a cult. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

I want to say a couple of things to people who have been spiritually abused in Charismatic settings: particularly to people like me, who are recovering Charismatics that still want to practice religion and find their own ways of talking and listening to God. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

When you’re Charismatic, you call bombastic displays of piety “spirit-filled.” People who pray in tongues easily are spirit-filled. People who have prophecies and tell you what to do are spirit-filled... www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

Recall: Dems hung tough on no funding for ICE & BP, Rs caved and passed rest of DHS and decided to do ICE and BP via reconciliation. Trump wanted ballroom then slush fund, couldn’t work it out, & here we are. Lesson for Dems: Hanging tough put pressure on Rs, -> Rs in disarray.

The House passed a bill late Wednesday to force public school teachers to out transgender students to their parents. It wasn’t a party-line vote, either: Eight Democrats voted for it. www.huffpost.com/entry/8-demo...

They all came running out of the woods and went to open a popsicle stand.

Took Jimmy's boy on a walk. He immediately joined a wagon train of little children biking to the edge of the woods. They ran in to go exploring. I can hear them but I can't see them. I don’t WANT to get burrs all over my good pants...

Oh no, oh dear, oh heavens

Republicans up for election in 6 months (crying): Sir please...we can only sell so much corruption to the rubes...our fragile majority sir... Trump: Shut up and put the money in the bag

I mean it is more exciting than the president's announcements, but so is drywall.

Trump's new 5-year plan includes taking equity in quantum computing operations. Trump will take equity stakes worth a total of $2bn in a slew of quantum computing companies, including a start-up backed by a firm with links to the Trump family and one taken public by a Pentagon official.

The January 6th Slush Fund hasn’t even opened applications yet, and look who’s lining up. Andrew Taake, accused of attacking police with bear spray on January 6th, while he was already out on pretrial release for child solicitation in Texas. He now has to register as a sex offender.

🚨Last night in House Appropriations, all Republicans present voted to allow THEMSELVES to get settlements from the January 6th Slush Fund. I am not making this up.

The war that never had to start. An illegal war.

When did the motto of the United States get changed from "E Pluribus Unum" to "We Don't Give a Fuck About You Unless You're a Billionaire"?

Sounds like a strong statement. Isn't. What he's making light of is a crime against the American people being committed by the most lawless, corrupt president in U.S. history and a complicit, also profoundly corrupt, DOJ. Also: He's a Senator...so the question ought to be: Whatcha gonna do about it?

Good for NY voters! Showing the way.

Honored to have worked with the team at @moreperfectunion.bsky.social to research and report the massive payments ICE made in buying empty warehouses to expand its “bed space” for its mass deportation blitz.

“.. it goes without saying that those who wish to benefit from this traffic must also pay their share,” he said in Farsi, through an interpreter .. @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

No one believes that the insurance company knows more about your health care than your doctors. Yet, they take your premiums every month and then refuse to cover the care your doctors say you need. That’s wrong. Let’s ban them from denying the care you need.

The mischievous girl down the block keeps knocking on my door to ask for a treat while I'm working. I keep telling her I don't have any popsicles. The fourth time she knocked, I opened the door impatiently, and she was beaming at me and holding my UPS package that just got here.

If only we could hit him with eggs.

Hard to stress how badly Trump has screwed up.

I love how Zillow sends me cheeky emails like "is a fixed or adjustable rate better for you?" I'm not going to BUY the house, Zillow. I don't have any money. I'm just enjoying looking at them like a museum.

Is there a way it's physically possible to wash the dishes without utterly soaking your clothing and having to change afterwards?

Ramona Quimby just called it "Gray Duck" and that has to be the definitive title.

Came home to find the Columbines have begun to bloom 💜 #bloomscrolling

I'm going to be sick.

Phew.

Correct

We are REALLY struggling to make ends meet and keep bills out of shutoff with all the prices going up. I need to get a tank of gas tomorrow morning, and we had to go into more debt for the car repair. Tip jar is here, and thank you! www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

No historian will mention that I walked around the graves of the veterans of the World Wars first, up beyond the ravine where the sun is so bright. And then I walked on the other side, where the hills are steeper and the graves are much older. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

She had an Appalachian accent– not a harsh scratchy Steubenville bray but the real kind, the kind that meant she was from deeper in the mountains. Maybe that was what made me come inside. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

When you grow up in the state of Ohio, you learn that the word “Ohio” comes from the Iroquois language. It means “Beautiful River,” but it’s closer to “Good River” or maybe just “Big River.” I suppose there was probably a time in history when the Ohio looked beautiful, though it doesn’t now.

The museum displayed the remains of a stegodon, which looks like a mammoth. Stegodons, like elephants, didn’t have any bones in their trunks, so the big black skeleton in front of me had two long white tusks on either side of an awkward grinning mouth. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

When the Disciples saw Jesus, they worshipped, but they doubted. You’re allowed to do that, you know. In fact, you must. You will end up doing that, at some point during your journey. You will worship, but doubt. www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...

It all began with the catalytic converter– or, rather, the lack of a catalytic converter. Jimmy was curious as to why my car still ran so loudly and smelled so terrible after the engine replacement last year... www.patheos.com/blogs/steelm...