Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Can Complementarians Please Stop Using the “You’re Equal to Your Boss” Analogy? (March 2) "When complementarians say, 'Well, that’s what the Bible says' it is fair to answer them back, 'Well, either you are wrong in your interpretation or God is sexist.'"

2. on the other trafficked girls in Esther (February 26) "All of them are captured by agents of the State— "deputies" – to take these girls from their families and get them to travel sometimes exceedingly far distances so that the king can decide if they "please" him."

3. Created to Die? Exploding Termites and the “Very Good” Creation (February 8) "It’s a familiar strategy: describe complexity, express incredulity, declare design."

4. The market for marriage (February 19) "The usual pattern is that pastoralists are inegalitarian, inequality drives polygyny, and polygyny drives male control of women."

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As a reminder, you don't have to read all the news links. But, *do* something. Check on your trans friends, protest, call your congress people, get connected to local groups, donate to groups that help immigrants.

Links related to the antichrist:

1. ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Kansas Trans Drivers License Revocations, Bathroom Bounty Hunter Law (February 27) "The lawsuit is being brought by two anonymous plaintiffs, both transgender men. Both hold driver's licenses with male gender markers. SB 244 retroactively invalidates those licenses, which will 'forcibly out Plaintiffs as transgender.'"

2. Trump administration drops suits against law firms after judges find president's orders unconstitutional (March 3) "'This episode will be remembered as demonstrating the difference between institutions that had the ethical courage to uphold the Constitution and fight bullying and then won, and those that compromised their ethics and gained nothing,' Gupta said in a statement Monday. 'Let’s hope that media companies, universities, and other organizations pay heed.'"

Oh but wait, DOJ is [not?] dropping its appeals of losses in the law firm order cases. What is going on? (March 3) 

3. Who attacked a girls' school in Iran, and will there be accountability? (March 3) "As the death toll in the conflict passes 175, calls rise for an investigation into potential human rights violations and war crimes."

4. Before you share that story about how troops were told the Iran War is for "Armageddon," read this (March 4) Yes, we should fact-check and not believe everything!

5. Why supporting a shelter for women is now 'kind of radioactive' (March 4) "A global survey by U.N. Women published in October 2025 found that more than 40% of organizations working to end violence against women and girls had to scale back life-saving services or shut down completely in the past year because of funding cuts."

These MAGAs talk about how they're the ones "protecting women" by discriminating against trans people, and at the same time they're massively cutting funding for women's shelters. It's another example of the ideology I talked about in my post about being right vs doing good.

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Film review: Cover-Up (2025) (December 29) [content note: descriptions of genocide] "It is must-see viewing for anyone who wishes to know more about the murder, war crimes, rape, torture, and other abuses committed by the US government and its military, many of which were revealed because of the dogged work of Hersh."

2. From xkcd: Anyone Else Here and High Altitude Cooking Instructions

3. The biggest downside of marrying someone from another country... (December 29, 28-minute video) This vlogger is a US citizen married to a Chinese man, and she is trying to help him get a US tourist visa so he can come visit her family. Spoilers, he doesn't get it. The interview process for a US tourist visa is about proving that you really do just want to take a short trip there, and you're not planning to overstay your visa and be an illegal immigrant- and the evidence they want to see is that you have a well-established life in your own country- being married to a US citizen is a strike against him, actually. Lots of couples are in this situation, where the foreign spouse comes from a poor background, such that it's almost impossible to convince the US visa interviewer that you genuinely like to live in your own country and you're not going to decide that being an illegal immigrant would be a step up.

This is the kind of thing that radicalized me. Seriously, there are Americans who are not allowed by the US government to bring their spouse home on a trip to meet their family- not because they've done anything wrong, but because the US judges the foreign spouse as not having sure enough ties to their home country. 

My husband and I are lucky that this didn't happen to him. He got a US tourist visa before we got married, and now has a good track record of going there for a vacation and then leaving, they like to see that.

4. Natasha Romanoff: My Unlikely Ace Icon (January 2) "Nat is perennially single and, unfortunately, incapable of having children of her own. But she has a good relationship with Clint and Laura, and the way their daughter greets her suggests that she has also provided at least some childcare. Though we don’t get a lot of details on the relationship, it seems that Nat is valued by the Bartons and perhaps even loved."

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. In Parents' Own Words: Documenting the Stories of Separated Families in Honduras (December 18) "One mother, who had been deported without being given the opportunity to bring her two month-old child, a US citizen, back with her, could talk of little more than her frantic desperation to have her newborn baby back."

2. Trump calls Somali immigrants ‘garbage’ as US reportedly targets Minnesota community (December 2) I guess I didn't post anything about this when it happened a few weeks ago, because he always says all manner of horrible racist bigoted things, I can't possibly pay attention to all of them.

But, this one was pretty bad. Calling a whole group of people "garbage."

And part of me wants to be like "how does he get away with calling himself Christian- the bible says all people are made in the image of God- to call people 'garbage' goes against Christian teaching" but like, come on, that ship has sailed, the MAGAs are no longer even trying to pretend that being Christian has anything to do with, like, following the bible or the teachings of Jesus. Everybody knows that's not what it means.

3. Capitol riot 'does not happen' without Trump, Jack Smith told Congress (December 31) "Accounts from Republicans willing to stand up against the falsehood that the election had been stolen 'even though it could mean trouble for them' created what Smith described as the 'most powerful' evidence against Trump."

‘This is not a peaceful protest!’: A visual archive of Jan. 6, 2021, through the lenses of those who were there. (January 4)

4. The Artists Are Not Obeying In Advance (January 1) "The administration is threatening to sue these artists for millions, and no doubt they will try to find ways to intimidate and defund any organizations with whom they might be affiliated. But that won’t stop them. Artists, musicians, writers, film makers and performers of all kinds are rebelling, one of the most profound forms of resistance to a repressive regime."

5. 'We are going to run the country,' Trump says after strike on Venezuela (January 3)

Photos: Aftermath of strikes in Venezuela (January 3)

The Dems (January 3) "Too many people on social media are saying that the Democrats are all falling in line with Trump’s Venezuelan misadventure. That’s not true."

Miami mayor calls for Trump to 'immediately' reinstate TPS for Venezuelans (January 4) "'The instability unfolding in Venezuela today makes it even clearer that the country remains unsafe for people to return. No one should be forced back into chaos and uncertainty,' Higgins wrote in a statement. 'They have built lives here, contributed to our community, and deserve the security to remain while their homeland regains stability. This is not just a matter of policy — it is a matter of basic human dignity and safety.'"

6. DHS pauses immigration applications for an additional 20 countries (January 2) "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in a memo released Thursday, said it would pause the review of all pending applications for visas, green cards, citizenship or asylum from immigrants from the additional countries."

"The Case for Open Borders": Reparations

Political cartoon showing an American bald eagle dominating a large area of the globe. Image source.

Here's another quote from "The Case for Open Borders". From pages 210-211:

15. Open Borders As Reparations and Decolonization

The United States has what could be termed "an imperial debt" to a number of countries throughout the world. "US responsibility for helping create the conditions that drive much of the out-migration from Honduras," Joseph Nevins writes, "should negate any justification by the US government to deport and deny rights of residence to people of Honduran origin." Given that Honduras is less exception to and more exemplar of the destabilizing effects of US imperialistic intervention, the same argument could be made for dozens of other countries, including but not limited to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Congo, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, and Cambodia.

Sri Lankan novelist and activist A. Sivanandan's famous and succinct line explains why migrants move to countries that had colonized their homes: "We are here because you were there."

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. How Star Trek’s Federation Actually Abandons Its Ideals (July 30) 43-minute video from Steve Shives.

2. TobyMac - Made To Love (Live from Alive & Transported) (2009) Christian music from a decade or so ago. I've always liked this song.

3. France, U.K., others plan to recognize a Palestinian state. What does that change? (August 1)

4. Debating Fascists (July 25) "This was a major topic of conversation in the early 2000s amongst scientists, who worried over whether it was worthwhile to debate “the other side” on issues like climate change and evolution."

5. An Amazing Truth About ALL Sudokus That We DIDN'T Know (July 27) 1-hour-23-minute sudoku solve video.

6. An Ohio couple welcomes a baby boy from a nearly 31-year-old frozen embryo (August 2) Cool, I'm happy for them. It's interesting how people's feelings and beliefs about frozen embryos had such a big influence on this whole process, all the paperwork, transporting the embryos, etc. Would have gone completely differently if the people involved had different beliefs about frozen embryos. Anyway, congrats to them~

7. YouTube will identify and restrict minors’ accounts with AI (July 30, via) Uh what? This seems like a terrible idea, because the algorithm is going to get it wrong sometimes. Of course it will get it wrong sometimes. You're never going to get an accuracy rate close enough to 100%.

8. Holocaust Memory in a Time of Genocide (July 31, via) "At this point, the fracture between the “universal” and the “particular-Jewish” components of Holocaust memory became an unbridgeable chasm: the “pro-Jewish” sentiment, which morphed into unconditional support for Israel and its murderous war following October 7, was completely severed from the universal sentiment of human rights."

9. Zootopia 2 | Trailer (July 30) Cool!

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Links related to the antichrist:

1. Jon Stewart Reacts to Colbert's Cancellation & Trump's "Bawdy" Epstein Doodles | The Daily Show (July 22) "And if you believe, as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king's radar, A, why will anyone watch you? And you are ****ing wrong."

2. Trump push to ban birthright citizenship unconstitutional, US court rules (July 23, via) "The three-judge ruling panel in the 9th US circuit court of appeals echoed a district court in New Hampshire that blocked the executive order earlier this month."

3. Innocence, identity, and blood libel (part 1) (July 28) and Innocence, identity, and blood libel (part 2) 

4. Federal judge delays expiration of TPS for Hondurans, Nicaraguans and Nepalese (July 31) "It affects about 60,000 immigrants whose temporary protected status was set to expire. The protections for the Nepalese were set to terminate on Aug. 5. The protections for Nicaraguans and Hondurans would have ended Sept. 8. Most of them have been living in the U.S. for more than 20 years." This is just wild to me, that the MAGAs are arguing that people who've been in the US for over 20 years should just leave- like why? Why should they leave? Just because the MAGAs hate immigrants, not any actual reality-based reason.

Blogaround

Links not related to the antichrist:

1. Doctors urged to treat pain for IUD insertion and other procedures (May 20) Hey, this is great. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is now saying that doctors need to inform patients about the possible pain of procedures like IUD insertion, and give patients options about anesthesia/ pain management. I'm all for that. Informed consent in a medical setting.

2. The Chicago Sun-Times Published an AI-Generated Summer Reading List Full of Fake Books — And This is Just the Beginning (May 20) "Let's connect the dots here. Media company cuts 20% of its staff, including experienced editors. Two months later, AI-generated nonsense makes it into print without anyone catching it. Are we really surprised?"

3. Gatsby’s Secret (April 7, via) "The more Thompson read, the more convinced he became that Gatsby was about a man “passing” for white."

4. Supreme Court sidesteps religious charter school question for now on 4-4 deadlock (May 22) "No religious charter schools. For now."

5. No more pennies: In big change, Treasury will stop minting them (May 22) "The Treasury Department has placed its last order for blank pennies and plans to stop minting the one-cent coins as soon as that's exhausted."

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Political cartoon that shows the White House (with a flag that says "King Donald") with a sign out front that says "Please wipe your feet!" pointing to the Constitution laying on the ground. Image source.

Links related to the antichrist:

We've got a lot of links today. If it's too stressful, you don't have to read all of them, but here is an important action item: Contact your senators and tell them to vote no on the Republican budget bill.

1. Supreme Court says Trump can strip protected status for Venezuelans for now (May 19) "'From what we can tell, this is the single largest action in modern American history, stripping any group of non-citizens of immigration status,' Ahilan Arulanantham, the co-director for Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA, and one of the lawyers representing the Venezuelans, told reporters Monday."

2. DHS secretary misstates meaning of habeas corpus under Senate scrutiny (May 20) "Responding, Senator Hassan corrected the secretary, stating, 'Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.'"

3. Judge says Trump administration violated court order on third-country deportations (May 21) "'No meaningful opportunity at all was provided to him to express a fear of being sent to South Sudan,' Ryan said."

And an update on that: White House agrees to keep migrants in Djibouti for now, blasts federal judge's ruling (May 22)

In this specific case, the immigrants being deported actually have committed serious crimes. I think people have a tendency to think "well why does it matter if they're sent to some random other country, since they are violent criminals?" No, not cool- if people commit crimes, you sentence them according to what the law says. We have laws for this! The government can't just make up whatever punishment they want.

4. Charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver spark backlash after incident with ICE agents (May 21) "'This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court,' she added."

5. U.S. sends 68 migrants back to Honduras and Colombia in first voluntary deportation (May 20) 

6. These students protested the Gaza war. Trump's deportation threat didn't silence them (May 21) "'All of us international students, we had this thought of, 'what if it was me?'' she said of her reaction to the first few students that ICE agents arrested. 'Students that were higher risk, they all started to talk to their lawyers and make arrangements for if that were to happen.'"

7. Alliance Defending Freedom Sues Minnesota To Mandate Trans Discrimination (May 22) "While the immediate impact would be limited to Minnesota, an appeal could escalate the case to higher courts—and if the Supreme Court takes it up, this fringe legal theory could become the basis for mandating anti-trans discrimination in schools nationwide, from bathroom bans to sports bans and more."

8. These Are Not My Thoughts On Banning GAC (May 22) [content note: violence against intersex children] "So when the GOP includes intersex exceptions to genital reconstruction laws that ban gender affirming care for trans kids, This is what they’re preserving. Not care. Not concern. Not empathy. They are preserving the right of parents to rip apart children’s bodies with pliers, and the right of doctors to support them in their demented, evil efforts."

9. Trump administration revokes Harvard's ability to enroll international students (May 22) Holy crap. 

10. Lawsuit challenges USDA demand for food stamp data as some states prepare to comply (May 22) "'If you're trying to design a public benefits program that supports the most vulnerable people and makes sure that nobody in our country goes hungry, this is obviously not the way to do it,' said Ami Fields-Meyer, a senior fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University specializing in the intersection between civil liberties and technology, and a former senior policy adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris. 'But if you're trying to integrate critical assistance into a machinery for hunting immigrants and breaking up families and deporting people without due process — this is exactly how you do it.'"

11. Educators fear their homeless students could become a target for Trump cuts (May 22) "Amid all the moves, one thing has been constant for Dayana: her school. That's because a federal law, known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, allows students like her to stay in their school even when their housing takes them far from where they originally enrolled."

Blogaround

Links not related to that felon:

1. The Struggles and Strengths of China’s Bereaved Youths (April 24) "The death of a parent violently shakes a bereaved young adult’s understanding of life. To integrate this disruption into their life narratives, they are forced to revise their conception of what life means."

2. Air China A350 Safety Video (2022) You know how nowadays, every airline does their safety spiel in the form of a cutesy little video? Well last time I was on an Air China flight, I got such a kick out of this, it's so cute and so over-the-top Chinese, I simply must share it.

3. Lord Of The Dance Hymn (Contemporary Worship Song) (2020) One of my favorite songs about Jesus.

And this is also one of my favorite songs about Jesus: michael card--God's own fool 

While we're on this topic, here's this one too: Rich Mullins - Sometimes by Step 

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Links related to that felon:

As always, if you're too stressed out about everything going on, find 1 tangible thing to do. Protest, donate money, get connected with local groups that support immigrants. We need everyone to do at least 1 little thing that actually makes a difference. Being stressed out about the news all the time does *not* count.

1. World War T is exhausting (April 24) "Retailers in the first months of 2025 are trying to do now what they would have done in the first months of 2020 if they had known that a pandemic was coming ahead of time."

And: Has Trump cancelled Christmas? China's decorations makers report no US orders (April 10) "'So far this year, none of my American customers have placed any orders,' said Qun Ying, who runs an artificial Christmas tree factory in the eastern city of Jinhua."

2. Trump administration reverses abrupt terminations of foreign students’ US visa registrations (April 25) This is good news- but also, it sounds like ICE is still planning to go after international students.

3. Trump Has Now Deported Multiple U.S. Citizen Children With Cancer (April 26) "One of the children is a four-year-old suffering from a rare form of metastatic cancer and was deported out of the country without medication or consultation with their treating physicians — despite ICE being notified in advance of the child’s medical needs. The civil rights organization says that the mother of the two-year-old is pregnant, and was deported without ensuring any continuity of prenatal care or proper medical care."

4. U.S. judge says 2-year-old apparently deported to Honduras 'with no meaningful process' (April 26) "'The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,' Doughty wrote. 'But the Court doesn't know that.'"

5. PhD Timeline (April 25)

6. The difference between the police and the secret police (April 28) "You cannot watch that video without clearly and obviously understanding that Öztürk is a victim and that she is being victimized by … well, by the Bad Guys in this story."

7. Protesters chant after arrest of judge accused of helping man evade immigration authorities (April 27) "'The judiciary acts as a check to unchecked executive power. And functioning democracies do not lock up judges,' Democratic state Rep. Ryan Clancy told the crowd before it marched around the area."

Blogaround

The tomb is empty. Image source.

Happy Easter! He is risen!

I didn't make Easter eggs this year because in lockdown there is NO WAY I'll be "wasting" perfectly good eggs on that. So that's kinda sad.

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1. Cracking The Cryptic: The Movie (posted 2020) Here's an hour-and-twenty-eight-minute video of Simon Anthony solving a sudoku puzzle, and WOWWWWW this is INCREDIBLE. This had got to be one of my favorites on that youtube channel. This sudoku is SO HARD it's astounding.

2. Gilbert Gottfried, iconic comedian, dies at 67 after long illness (posted April 13)

3. Concordance-ism means the Golden Rule is never sufficient (posted April 2) "'Preying on the poor is Bad' is not a shared moral premise and won’t be received as one." 

(Do take a look at the "Anti-Gambling Sunday" document he links to- it is indeed not very good.)

4. The argument against God from sporadic miracles (posted March 28) "God cherry-picked this person, one disadvantaged person out of perhaps millions or billions, and sort of healed them." YES THIS. This is basically the reason I stopped praying for God to do things, years ago- it's just not right for God to help some people and not others. If it is true that "God answers prayer", that raises a lot of very awkward questions about why God answered this prayer and not that one, and why God allowed those bad things to happen in the first place. 

I do believe in God (and uhhh feel a little awkward posting this link on Easter- I do believe in resurrection) but I don't believe that They actively intervene in the world. I don't believe "God answers prayer"... honestly, a God that would do that, that would decide who gets healed and who doesn't according to who followed the guidelines about how to pray correctly- that God is disgusting and not worthy of worship.

I believe God is with us (I believe in incarnation). They feel the same emotions we feel, and the same pain and suffering and trauma. They "rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn." If that sounds useless to you because it doesn't involve actually doing anything tangible, well, yeah, I get that, so you don't have to believe it if you don't want.

5. Were ‘Extinct’ Species Found Alive in ‘Lost City’ in Honduran Rainforest? (posted April 4) This is so cool!

6. Britney Spears announces she's pregnant (posted April 11) Congratulations :)