Solar exploded across Africa in 2025: apnews.com/article/sola...

Perhaps our biggest threat. It ain’t that guy. Rather, millions of people have given up on truth, value, kindness—the very things we need in order to build a sustainable culture. If we can’t value the neighbors we don’t know personally, or even the ones we do, we face a future of dysfunction. 1/2

Rubio just made a speech to the European defense community in Munich that did not mention Ukraine. Or democracy. Or US business deals with Russia. Or the administration's plans to support the European far right. But there were lots of nice words about our common civilization.

Again, why do we suppose they keep building detention centers?

Every commercial that celebrates community and joy is a small blow for democracy. That’s how we win: one chip at a time.

“Late Friday night, the Fifth Circuit adopted the extreme minority view—that the government can indefinitely detain without bond millions of non-citizens who have been here for generations; who have never committed a crime; and who pose neither a risk of flight nor any threat to public safety.”

The genius of the Musk/Thiel operation is making themselves indispensable while collecting data on everyone. Palantir and xAI take your data, while DOGE has dismantled oversight. Epstein compromised people one by one. These guys are compromising the entire population at once

This is actually the time to call for removal from office. Make the calls!

This sin of empathy BS is just bigotry in search of a theology.

How can we know that Christian nationalism revolves around narrow right wing politics rather than Christianity? Because its adherents differ massively on doctrine, worship, and piety, but they can miraculously line up on new political talking points in a split second.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) sues his hometown paper (my employer, LNP | LancasterOnline) for defamation, arguing an editorial that described his + other GOPers' arguments last fall that Dems wanted to fund health care for illegal immigrants were a "lie." www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

I think this review says a lot about what we’re up against. There is no vitality, no life, in authoritarianism. Reminds me, frankly, of Revelation’s New Jerusalem, where everything is shiny and bright and hard and cold. You can even see through the gold. (Published an essay about that in 2009.)

Trying out my Substack. How do we recognize Christian nationalism in the assault on Minneapolis and in abuse allegations at a local Christian academy?

A follower shared the legal document earlier this week so I'm really glad that @lancasteronline.bsky.social covered this. They include everything EXCEPT a detail about perpetrator and, of course, the larger context of Dayspring. Let's have a look! 1/

I’m often asked, “What can we do?” The best answer I’ve heard: SOMETHING. As individuals we can’t do it all. So let’s reflect. Discern. I’ve identified things I’m good at and emphasize those. Beyond that, I show up when I can, give as I can, offer comfort as able. Be intentional and find SOMETHING.

We are already helping Ukraine build drones but we are nowhere near the limit. Ukrainian factories can produce more than they do now. They lack the cash. We need to flood them with funding to max out every assembly line

That guy looked and sounded feeble at Davos.

Maybe the pro-democracy movement needs to do the soul work the Civil Rights movement did.

It’s becoming increasingly hard to tell the difference between ICE operating in Minnesota and the FSB operating in Russia. It all makes much more sense when you think about it. Here is the FSB in Russia:

We can’t wait on an election because they’re not acting like people who will let one happen. Every day is an escalation. Every day their support weakens, every day resistance grows, every day corruption and violence reach new levels. No choice but to discern and act.

Not really about our infant tyrant, but fascinating in lots of ways. Freebie by Adam Grant. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/o...

Not an Onion fan. BUT THIS IS THE POINT. When they call her a domestic terrorist, 30-40% of Americans are happy to see her dead. That applies to you too. And of course the minions add “lesbian.” Draw your own inferences.

Really pleased to see this one just out in Interpretation—and eager to see the whole issue.

Why Greenland? "Peter Thiel, who wants to set up crypto-empowered 'network states' on undeveloped territory, has invested in Praxis, a start-up that aims to do just that and which has scouted Greenland. Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, was a co-founder with Thiel and Elon Musk of PayPal."

I reckon we’re all mulling over the ICE killing—looks like murder—in Minneapolis. One thing I feel confident about: the replies from No-m and That Guy tell us this is what they want. They want more violence. They want their secret police. They’re telling us what they’re willing to do to all of us.

You know what happened before the end of World War 2? World War 2. And World War 1. And endless wars between those empires. That’s why we collaborate internationally: we have more security, more wealth, and more power than when we go it alone. He does sound like a good Nazi, though. Lebensraum!

😳 Thiel Fellowship co-founder Michael Gibson & American Moment founder Nick Solheim led a 2024 talk about colonizing Greenland. Gibson wrote yesterday that someone shld “pitch Rubio on building a charter city in Venezuela…” In reply, his colleague tagged an American Moment alum IN THE STATE DEPT. 1/

May we always remember how we felt that day.

May this year bring “a rebirth of freedom” and nudge us toward the great dream. That would be a happy new year!

We pray for peace in church. Well, this is violence. It’s also one of the reasons democracy is shaky all over the Western world. Most Americans lead precarious lives, knowing that just replacing the tires would require borrowing money. 1/4

The CBS investigation portrays a modern concentration camp, similar to the Soviet GULAG (like CECOT, an acronym): sadistic guards, 24 hour lighting, isolation cells. Americans once opposed this inhumane system. The Trump administration sent innocent people there to suffer.

Ok, when you think about it, this is just funny. 22 When [Zechariah] did come out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak.… 24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived….

Joy and peace to all people! “The throne of God in the world is not human thrones, but in human depths, in the manger.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Among other things, “what is near CECOT” is an answerable question, not a fun imponderable. There is actually a lot of reporting out there about the construction process behind the prison and how it polluted the surrounding areas

This is a valuable piece by a noted expert, Molly Worthen. She points out how “Christian nationalism” is far from a perfect category, that movements like the New Apostolic Reformation are not monolithic, and that it’s hardly radical for Christians to seek to influence politics. But…. 1/2

UPDATE: in point of fact there is not an innocent explanation for this.

Things “That Guy” and his minions will never get. 1 Authentic confidence is rooted in part in humility. 2 Confident leaders inspire calm among those around them.

While Pete Hegseth may have missed the Pentagon Christmas sermon today, Franklin Graham offered the Secretary of War a Christmas gift by proclaiming a God of war.

‘Consulting firm BCG found that only 5% of 1,250 executives surveyed between May and mid-July saw widespread value from AI. Forrester predicts that in 2026 companies will delay about 25% of their planned AI spending by a year.‘ www.reuters.com/business/bus...

This @theatlantic.com piece misses the point entirely—as does almost all the reporting. Trump didn’t “desecrate” or “insult” Reiner. He effectively called for more violence, as he’s done multiple times.

🎙️ New episode is live! We’re joined by @gregcareyphd.bsky.social on This Is Not Church to talk about his latest book, Rereading Revelation: Theology, Ethics, and Resistance (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, out now). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

It’s not that these vapid Christian moralists promote the notion that empathy is a sin. It’s that American evangelicals so desperately gobble up every nonsense distraction from the way of Jesus.

Himes: "What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service ... any American who sees the video that I saw will see the US military attacking shipwrecked sailors."

I love the conversations where our hosts show genuine curiosity and nudge back a bit. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

Episode 101: Rereading Revelation with @gregcareyphd.bsky.social

My conversation with @gregcareyphd.bsky.social on his book Rereading Revelation will be available tomorrow wherever you get podcasts! youtube.com/shorts/8Lgsv...