Forgot about this app once Threads picked up steam. Anybody still hanging out here?

NEW REVIEW on the site today: @jryanlonas.bsky.social is reviewing the new book from Brian Miller, called Sanctifying Suburbia: How the Suburbs Became the Promised Land for American Evangelicals. Read the review here: buff.ly/ABar6BH

The Blues Brothers is a Wes Anderson movie: — childhood wounds — ironic, offbeat script and delivery — long segments of pop music — odd set pieces — uncanny movements — use of closeups — tender moral core underneath comic violence and destruction. I will not be taking questions at this time.

Spotted a cool protest poster

"How much cruelty is occasioned simply because of the *noise* that is within us: the din is too great to realize exactly what we are doing to others, or what is being done to others in our name...

Hope everyone gets this memo for the wannabe dictator's totalitarian cosplay birthday party...

Sometimes, loving your enemy starts with recognizing that they were never your friend.

Grateful to God for the life and work of Walter Brueggemann. His faithful insistence on the whole-life nature of following Jesus...

In an era when all the news most people read is the headlines, headline writers have a great responsibility. And the legacy media here in the U.S. is blowing it badly, often (looking at you @nytimes.com, @cnn.com, @usatoday.com, etc.)

Can't shake the feeling that what is going on in the U.S. these days is a dirty amalgam of what it would look like if the Confederacy won the Civil War and the Soviets won the cold war...which begs the question of whether "winning" a war (real or cultural) can ever lead to flourishing long term.

We're wrapping up reading LOTR aloud as a family and just finished "The Scouring of the Shire" this week. (1/4)

It's really the ripe moment for someone to do a very toothy film adaptation of Walker Percy's satirical 1971 novel Love in the Ruins. Who should direct?

Not great.

Passed a car parked on Main St. here in Chattanooga this morning with two bumper stickers: 1) Tr*mp/Vance 2024 "Take America Back" 2) a simple blue sticker reading "I ❤️ the Constitution" My brother in Christ, you cannot have both.

The VP of El Salvador repeatedly told me "the ball is in your court" when it comes to bringing Abrego Garcia home — making clear Trump is violating a 9-0 SCOTUS ruling to “facilitate” his return. I said this in my recent letter to Trump, and here's the video to back it up:

Are we to the part where three spirits visit him and he repents and makes reparations to everyone he's wronged, yet?

"The Lord is not Nemesis. He is free, acting toward His own ends, indifferent to the harsh symmetry of revenge." —Marilynne Robinson, Reading Genesis

Waiting for all my "law and order" people to tell me when the President's lawbreaking bothers them... Which laws matter? Which parts of the Constitution need following? Or was this always just an excuse to gut government services for those in poverty and brutalize non-white citizens & immigrants?

Tennesseans, regardless of political party affiliation, are against cuts to federal programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to a new statewide poll.

I will never not be amazed at how the people that taught: — that private character matters in public office — all media is inherently propaganda — the federal government is inherently tyrrannical and local is best — law enforcement officers are state revenue agents and to be distrusted — etc.

A world of artificial love Artificial images of Artificial friends and foes Artificial brains in our hands Makes hate seem one real thing to grasp.

"Dangerous times call for high levels of both calm and courage. You need to assume the worst is going to happen, and work backwards from there." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

It's a common lament that Americans need to know history better in order to actually self-govern and "secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

Christian nationalism (at least at a popular level) stems from the same heart-impulse as Peter's sword-blow upon Malchus' ear in the garden. It's the assumption that God needs protection. But the way of Jesus is always the way of the cross, but confident in resurrection. A blessed Easter to all

I've been working through Holy Week in poetry over the past few years, and it's not a complete set yet, but it's become a cherished aspect of worship for me. Sharing here for you all as well (1/6)

My daughter (15), when I got home from work and showed her @booker.senate.gov working on his filibuster: "He's cooking! He's STILL cooking after 23 hours. He's a brisket!"

Waiting for the courts to explain how "improper ideology" fits into the First Amendment...

Spring has come back again. The Earth is like a child who knows poems by heart. —Rilke

5 years. It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago.

Serious question for Canadian friends on here: My family & I were planning a summer road trip through Ontario/Quebec, and with the current state of US/CAN relations, we're really eager to spend time and money north of the border. How are you feeling about American visitors these days? #Canada

20 Years ago when I was getting to the end of an undergrad journalism degree, I lamented the Internet's killing of local & national newspaper business because it meant my degree wasn't going to get me a job. At this remove, it's hard not to see that as the beginning of an authoritarian long-game...

I'd really rather not publicly speak about political issues, but that's privilege talking.

In a culture where the currency is manufactured outrage (let's call it "crypto-anger" in largest supply among those who have the most leisure to mine it), the power of standing still & speaking clearly and boldly to power and kindly and gently to those who are weak is the only way to be truly heard.

"The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error" — William Jennings Bryan * A quote which was DRILLED into us at my alma mater (so-named for Mr. Bryan), but always appropriate to encourage the soul of truthtellers.

Really love watching my country be run into the ground by a grifter who promised grifting all along the campaign trail & then still being maligned by people who support him (& are now also suffering) because they think opposition to the grifter has something to do with "ideology" instead of reality.

"His work is both accessible and profound, a pointed argument that every American Christian needs to wrestle with." -- @jryanlonas.bsky.social in his NEW REVIEW of Malcolm Foley's The Anti-Greed Gospel buff.ly/CljMM54 @malcolmbfoley.bsky.social @brazospress.bsky.social

Read this book: englewoodreview.org/malcolm-fole...

No matter how low the bar for doing one simple thing right and acting in light of justice and reality is set, they find a way to crawl under it...

🥲

This is how Bullies work: If you say out loud they scare you, they scare you harder. That's how you know who they are. Good people who are not bullies will feel sorry for the way they make you feel unsafe. They will apologize and ask how they can be better. If that does not happen, then you know.+

Reminder that real people suffer globally when politicians fail to exercise constitutional oversight or respect court orders locally (and thanks for great reporting, @christianitytoday.com and @emilybelz.bsky.social). Keep calling/writing Congresspeople. www.christianitytoday.com/2025/02/usai...

A lot of talk about "efficiency" these days, but what people mean by "efficient" is a blinkered idea of financial ROI—if it makes money, it's good. If not, it's bad.

After three years of failure, Putin can’t win on the ground, but he can win in his enemies’ heads—if we let him. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Worst. Episode. EVER.

Man, it must be nice to have congressmen and senators who will even have town halls where they have to remember they have constituents... Tennessee has been living the unaccountable government nightmare for a long time now. Power no longer belongs to the people here in any practical sense.

If they try to do this, I will donate 1/3 to orgs that lost USAID funding, 1/3 to "friends of national parks" type orgs, and 1/3 to civil rights orgs. Maybe add in a few more or shift the breakdown, but you get the picture. apnews.com/video/trump-...

It would be far less time-consuming to just document when he tells the truth. shorturl.at/tohgb