Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Texas Christians and ‘biblical literacy’ (November 2) "They have eyes to see and ears to hear, but not to see and hear this. They have a baseline of biblical literacy that teaches them to tithe their dill and cumin, but neglects the weightier matter of justice."

2. ‘Star Trek’ Actor Wil Wheaton Tells Stephen Miller to Keep Patrick Stewart’s Name Out of His ‘Nazi Mouth’ (October 31) "'Stephen Miller, on behalf of Star Trek, and everyone who knew and loved him, keep my Captain's name out of your f–king Nazi mouth,' he wrote. 'He despised you, and everything you stand for.'"

3. “Believing Victims” - A Primer (January 22) "There is a huge gulf between the spaces where the advice of “believing victims” sprang up and the kinds of places where it is invoked now. I first started to hear this language in college when I was doing bystander intervention training to prevent sexual assault, or to assist someone who has been the victim of a sexual assault. If someone tells you they have been sexually assaulted, investigating whether or not they were is not your job (unless you are a law enforcement agent). Your job is to provide them with care to make sure they get the help that they need quickly, and resources to make a decision about what they will do next. Of course in this situation you should operate from a posture of belief. You should not refuse to take your friend to the hospital because you are not convinced they were raped (do you really need me to say that?). Take them to the hospital. The truth of what happened is not the immediate concern."

4. Journal Club: Christian Women make sense of sexual pain (October 25) "If people like intercourse more than other kinds of sex, that’s one thing. But these are specifically women who have experienced pain during intercourse, so maybe they should reconsider whether it should be the primary kind?"

5. Take the elevator up (2023) My younger kid has been watching a lot of Ms. Rachel. This song perfectly captures what it's like to live in a big city.

6. Newsom moves to clear out California’s 548-person death row in largest such clemency act (November 6) "Notably, and unlike former President Joe Biden’s clemency grant to most people on federal death row at the end of his time in office, Newsom made no exceptions to his clemency on Thursday."

7. Salon, internet’s oldest general interest publication, shuts down after 31 years (November 5)

8. ‘Every day, someone loses a hand or a leg’: the brutal reality of India’s textile recycling industry (November 6) "During numerous visits to spinning units and factories, the Guardian did not see anyone wearing any kind of safety gear. None of the workers interviewed reported having safety training."

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Links related to the antichrist, also election news:

1. Mike Rogers' Religious Bigotry Threatens All of Michigan’s Jews (October 26, via) "It’s the same sort of fact-free fearmongering that has led to the greatest tragedies of the last century. It lurks in the dark heart of every blanket accusation against George Soros. It courses through the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that now animates the Trump State Department and echoes the propaganda of Nazi Germany."

2. US midterms voters said: enough is enough. Is this the beginning of the end for Trump? (November 4)

Impeach him! Seriously, no messing around- I want the Democrats to take action and charge people with crimes if they committed crimes for him. Who's covering up the Epstein files? Who is giving training to ICE officers that they don't need to respect people's rights? What did DOGE do with Americans' personal data? What about members of the government ignoring court orders? No one is above the law. Charge all these people with crimes if there is evidence.

3. Democrat James Talarico turns Texas Senate seat blue, defeating Ken Paxton (November 4) !!!!! Texas!

4. This post from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (November 4) "In 1860, an enslaved man named Sheppard Peek was listed among the possessions of William Peek, a white man in Crawfordville."

5. Iowa Democrat who quit race wins seat anyway (November 4) Good job!

6. Minnesota Provider Essentia Health Violated Equal Rights Laws By Dropping Trans Youth Care, Lawsuit Alleges (October 30) "'Nobody should receive a major health care access update ‘through the grapevine,’' a statement from Gender Justice said. 'Essentia’s failure to communicate with families wasn’t just cruel. It put patients at increased risk by creating confusion and giving families a limited timeline within which to find alternative providers.'"

Also from Erin in the Morning: A Stunning Rebuke Of Anti-Trans Politics: Republicans Spent $200 Million Attacking Trans People And Lost Everything (November 4) "It was also a big night for transgender candidates. Washington state will have the first out Black transgender woman elected to a state legislature in Jaelynn Scott, and Michigan will have a trans woman legislator as well in Joanna Whaley. But perhaps the most stunning result when it comes to transgender people winning their elections was Allison Montgomery, who won in a relatively conservative suburban Huntsville, Alabama, district."

And: Don’t Mess With Blexas: Anti-Trans Ads Fail To Stop Texas’ Blue Tsunami (November 6) "'I have people [telling] me they can visit family again, that they would consider moving back,' wrote Gwen Howerton, a Texas culture reporter, on Bluesky. 'It’s early but I cannot really overstate how much the bleeding on LGBTQ+ rights in Texas has stopped essentially overnight.'"