"I understand that a review—even a short & partial review—of the past year might seem dismally repetitive. But repetition ensures that we remember, and perhaps even experience shock anew." - @jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social (Gift link) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

January 6: It was a day of infamy. And without accountability, our democracy is now dragged further into lawlessness. May history remember. May we all remember. #January6th

Denmark’s PM, Mette Frederiksen responds to Trump: “The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom…I would therefore strongly urge the US to stop the threats against a historically close ally…and another people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale.”

When journalists reach out to the people they're writing about to seek comment, that's not intimidation. It's professionalism. www.propublica.org/article/prop...

A prescient cartoon. ⬇️ It was ALWAYS about the oil & that's more clear now than ever.

So... now we're going to run Venezuela & Trump says: "It has to be judicious because that's what we're all about." There is nothing "judicious" about an illegal war. deadline.com/2026/01/trum...

January 6, 2021: "It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead... it heralded a culture of political unaccountability." - @nytimes.com But... "as dark as this story has become, it is not over." (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/o...

A day will come when we will be on the other side of these dark times. May we live wholly in the now while still breathing into that future day with hope and solidarity. Happy New Year! christabrown.substack.com/p/my-top-fiv...

So... this is how he's making America great? By depriving rural communities of clean drinking water. Trump continues his campaign of retribution against Colorado.

Paul Havsgaard ran an orphanage in Romania where there were allegations he raped numerous boys. Other church leaders turned a blind eye... for years. “They had to know. One hundred percent, they had to know.” #ChurchToo #TheyKnew

"There was a time when it would have been scandalous for a sitting US president to use the office to serve his personal business interests, but that was back when America had Attorneys General who didn’t think an emoluments clause was the disclaimer on a moisturizer." - @eamonlynch.bsky.social

"Simple human decency... That is where the real schism is... It’s between the people who understand that & those who gleefully indulge in an orgy of cruelty & inhumanity, even while they display the trappings of Christianity & brag about their piety." ⬇️ www.salon.com/2025/12/23/t...

"People who do not think feminism has done much forget how different things were before that wave washed over everything." - @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

"RFK Jr. likes to pretend that we need to run tests on already-tested, already-proven-safe vaccines to see if they're safe; the idea that we need to see what's in the files to know if Trump is a predator and a criminal and a misogynist has some of the same agenda of delay and decoy."

A good news Christmas present! ⬇️

"To some eyes, the caganer tradition might seem sacrilegious or irreverent. But why? I think it adds a human side to the wonder of Christmas & reminds us of what it means to be embodied creatures. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about?" christabrown.substack.com/p/away-in-a-...

"To be an obedient child of God, you learn to suppress doubts, keep your mouth shut, and do what the divine emissary tells you to do." This conditioning explains so much.

Allowing Denhollander to occupy dual roles served the institutional interests of the Southern Baptist Convention. She gave a veneer of legitimacy to the SBC's image-repair efforts & allowed the institution to present a public face of caring about abuse. #ThisistheSBC baptistnews.com/article/what...

"Conflicts of interest & 'dual roles' undermined SBC abuse investigation" 3 yrs ago, I wrote a mild-mannered piece raising concerns about an apparent conflict of interest issue for Rachael Denhollander. I was excoriated. I take no joy in these new revelations. baptistnews.com/article/conf...

I don't give a flying flip whether he was a fan of Rob Reiner or not. What I care about is basic human decency and this is a president who exhibits absolutely none.

"It has become virtually impossible to write a survey question about immigration policy that is too harsh for white evangelicals to support." - @robertpjones.bsky.social baptistnews.com/article/ice-...

A nativity scene with Mary and Joseph missing, at a Catholic church in Dedham, Massachusetts. "ICE was here." (photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

ICYMI: Our U.S. State Department is busy with the critical work of ridding our government of woke typefaces. 🙄 I kid you not. Calibri is out - (it was a DEI hire, ya know?) - and Times New Roman is back. apnews.com/article/rubi...

BREAKING: Donald Trump claims he has granted a “full pardon” to Tina Peters — the Colorado election denier serving a state sentence. Presidents cannot pardon state crimes. His statement has no legal force.

Hollow public words, impotent task forces, phony dog-n-pony shows, performative platitudes & behind-the-scenes betrayals. This has become the norm in Southern Baptist leaders’ handling of clergy sex abuse. "So much duplicity adds up." #ThisistheSBC My column today: baptistnews.com/article/sout...

Woohoo!!! Way to go, Miami!

Unfathomable cruelty toward people who did everything by the book. This was never about illegal immigration. It was always about white supremacy.

During the season of Advent, I think a lot about Mary. I look at images of her, so often with downcast eyes, and I feel some inexplicable kinship. My column today is a story of the sacred rendered into sacrilege. #ChurchToo christabrown.substack.com/p/i-was-tryi...

Katie Miller does "cute couple interviews" with members of the Trump admin. This week her guests were the Hegseths. So... "Katie asks the TheoBro who is accused of war crimes & mass murder how he likes his wings." Such are the dark, absurdist times in which we live. None of it is normal. ⬇️

"You don’t need a degree is psychology to understand that only weaker men crave women trained not to talk back." For many of us who were raised in evangelicalism, the overcompensating misogynistic machismo of Pete Hegseth is familiar -- like so many pastors in their pulpits.

"These men are trying to recreate how they run their homes & churches in the federal government." - @mhairiforrest.bsky.social Yup. And that's why those of us who escaped from their misogynistic churches will never go back & never relent.

Since I haven’t seen anyone mention this: When the U.S. commits war crimes it puts our troops in danger also, as it gives a green light to other countries that they can do the same to us

Thinking of illegal orders... today is the anniversary of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre when the US Army slaughtered 100s of Cheyenne & Arapaho people, mostly women & children. Captain Silas Soule refused orders and helped bring truth to light. coloradonewsline.com/2025/11/26/a...

The United Kingdom is "no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes & believes the attacks are illegal." www.wkow.com/news/interna...

Textbook war crime/extrajudicial killing "Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack ... ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions." Report by @alexhorton.bsky.social @ellenwapo.bsky.social o.bsky.social

Steve Witkoff isn’t promoting peace. His interventions are helping Vladimir Putin and prolonging the war www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

Abuse survivor Christa Brown condemns Megyn Kelly’s “barely legal” remarks about Epstein's victims, saying it minimizes child rape. Brown recounts how an SBC pastor abused her, showing how such rhetoric inflicts harm and reinforces a culture of child exploitation. julieroys.com/church-abuse...

"We're fighting for the life of democracy right now... Religion is at the core of the threat." - @kkdumez.bsky.social On the importance of naming & confronting the problem of Christian Nationalism. So much that's so good here. Have a listen. ⬇️ convocation.substack.com/p/trumps-dru...

Data from @prri.org shows that only 9% of white evangelicals view release of the Epstein files as a critical issue. And... white evangelicals are the only religious group whose majority approves of Trump's handling of the controversy over the Epstein files. prri.org/spotlight/am...

1) Start the worst European war since 1945 and commit every imaginable war crime 2) Decide how you want to be rewarded for your aggression 3) Leak the list of your desiderata to the US press 4) Wait for the US president to enforce your wish list on your victim. Russian policy 2025

"Awkward wording, evident throughout the document, suggests that at least some of it was originally written in Russian." The "peace plan" that will bring only war and that, already, does grave damage to America's reputation as a reliable ally.

Nope.

Emails show MAGA strategist Steve Bannon viewed "Conservative Christians" as a force to exploit. To what end? For a coalition to stave off the movement toward accountability for sexual abuse -- i.e., to help perpetuate impunity for powerful men. Evangelicals, Trumpism & sexual abuse. All connected.

Pushing back against the #MeToo/#TimesUp movement was part of the strategy from the get-go. And who did Bannon designate as critical in his coalition to avoid accountability for powerful men? "Conservative Christians." Trumpism, impunity for sexual abuse & white evangelicalism. It's all connected.

BREAKING: House overwhelmingly passes Epstein bill www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

"To those familiar with purity culture, Megyn Kelly's comments about Epstein and 15-year-old girls isn't such a surprise." - Becky Garrison #EpsteinFiles #ChurchToo religiondispatches.org/to-those-fam...

On tonight's episode of "Highest Power: Church + State," I discuss the Epstein coverup and how rightwing pundits are minimizing sexual abuse. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...