Blogaround

An unimpressed kitty laying in a pile of hundred-dollar bills. Image source.

1. Bomb Threats to Jewish Community Centers and Organizations. Holy shit.

2. Laziness isn’t why people are poor. And iPhones aren’t why they lack health care. (posted March 8)

3. This map of Earth is the most accurate ever produced, and it looks completely different (posted March 2)

4. How did a ‘heart for missions’ lead to contempt? (posted March 6) "It makes sense that years of prayer on behalf of other people would, if nothing else, form habits of concern and care on the part of those doing the praying. But here we have a powerful counter-example. The very same people who have spent years praying for those within the 10/40 window now seem to regard those people with exceptional contempt."

5. I'm Pregnant. What Would Happen If I Couldn't Afford Health Care? (posted March 11) "Women without prenatal care are seven times more likely give birth to premature babies, and five times more likely to have infants who die." Everyone who claims to be "pro-life" needs to push to make health care affordable for pregnant people- because it literally saves babies lives. Pro-choice people also need to fight for this- because what if a pregnant person wants a baby, but they can't afford the pregnancy costs, so they feel like they're forced to have an abortion? That's not "pro-choice." Really the only way you could seriously think that it's fine to not guarantee health care to pregnant people is if your ideology is neither pro-life nor pro-choice, but anti-woman.

6. Understanding The Spectrum (posted 2016) "Since you're very autistic I don't think you should have a job, just to be safe y'know?"

7. Educated Evangelicals, Academic Achievement, and Trumpism: On the Tensions in Valuing Education in an Anti-Intellectual Subculture (posted March 6) "I had long since become critical of this notion of God “confounding the worldly wise” by using people with dubious qualifications as “vessels” of his will in particular callings to which they are not naturally suited, but it is a deep-seated part of Evangelical culture."

8. Autistic people need diagnosis, not denial (posted March 10) "When these kids grow into adults, and find they need more support, they may engage with the formal procedures themselves and at long last get the paperwork they need. But a great many of them will be told 'But you’ve gone this far without support, so you must not need it'."

9. Gay Conversion Therapy Advocate Joseph Nicolosi is Dead. His Ideas, Unfortunately, Will Live On (posted March 11)

10. Christianity Today Goes Full Pick-Up Artist (posted March 16) Libby Anne's analysis here is spot on. This is the kind of evangelism I was taught. This is what I did. Looking for points of vulnerability. Using people's politeness against them.