Clifton Lee

The mainstreaming of apocalyptic evangelical Christianity and its replacement of mainline Christianity (w/ the latter's Locke-ian view of faith) as a dominant worldview in the US is in no small part a reason for the current crisis...

Found in the wild today in otherwise non-descript terrain on Colorado's front range: Greig's Tulip, native to Central Asia, w/brilliant red petals framed by variegated green leaves that struck me at first as weeds. Bloom where you're planted seems trite. More of a rebellion against the mundane.

When despair and sorrow and sadness start to seep in like smoke through chimney cracks, I turn my attention to the dogs I have known in my lifetime and am filled with gratitude.

“...you may live a long while with some people, and be on friendly terms with them, and never once speak openly with them...; with others you have scarcely time to get acquainted, and all at once you are pouring out to them—or they to you—all your secrets, as though you were at confession.”

Favorite film in haiku An old man’s dry eyes don’t see a tiger too well not stuck inside, no

What’s your medium of choice? What’s mine? The one we can pour the best of ourselves into. And if there‘s not any one way above another? Then one that presents itself. And it may not be a recognized form. Going with what seems to say come on, let’s do this

"democrats are going force trans your kids" (Fake) vs "republicans are going to reintroduce child labor and make your daughter write a thank you letter to the pastor that molested her" (Real)

You know, he really is looking more and more like Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry. Which is as it should be.

Exit, Pursued By a Bear.

How are people proceeding in everyday life as if we’re not on a runaway train?

Midterm drama: The credulous, clueless, and haters, vs. the otherwise inclined who show up, or have bothered to drop a ballot. That‘s Act One. Nobody, and I mean nobody, knows how the second act goes, or how the spectacle concludes

Matt Whittaker: Starlink had a business decision to make. You know terms of service, along those lines. You know like BASF in Mannheim during WWII. Business decision whether to manufacturer Zyklon-B. Terms of service, that sort of thing.

Matt Whittaker: Starlink had a business decision to make. You know terms of service, along those lines. You know like BASF in Mannheim during WWII. Business decision whether to manufacturer Zyklon-B. Terms of service, that sort of thing.

In our new study, we conducted a systematic mapping review to identify the terminology and #statistical methods researchers use to quantify spatial patterns of #roadkill distribution. Key info for #RoadEcology & #TransportPlanning 🧪🦤🌎🌱 #wildlife #roads #SpatialEcology #ecology shorturl.at/9qQNq

The news at this point would be this regime, and Trump in particular, unequivocally supporting Ukraine in word and deed. Not one development in the slow burn betrayal of Ukraine and former NATO allies is inconsistent with the stance of the man or his minions since his first term in office.

I sometimes feel like I'm caught in an eternal deja vu loop. HCR quoting HRC yesterday: "I guess Trump has this idea that he wants to divide the world,” Clinton said. “He gets the Western Hemisphere, Putin gets Russia and Europe, and Xi Jinping gets the rest of the world.” Me, early January:

I used voice-to-text tools when composing drafts of my work and research documents. I just began a research document with the subhead: "Causes and Consequences". But text-to-speech intepreted my voice as saying as "Condos and Coffee Witches." I think I'll go with text-to-speech.

My subconscious brain narrative still thinks the adults in the room know more than I - the kid in the corner with the welts from the beatinga - know more than I do.

His pivot to Russia is news? I am beginning to think people are Rip Van Winkles waking up from a long winter nap and that Robert Mueller died in vain.

Ernst Cassirer should not have been forgotten.

Got this massive book from library, all Rembrandt’s paintings. Easily weighs 25lbs. Figures captured so serious and self-possessed, unaware they will have been dead 400 years

Current news cycle feels like we’re Sisyphus waking up with the boulder on our chest, and we have to wriggle out from under it before starting to push it uphill

Genocidal war by enemy of US is fine says US president.

Seeing headlines suggesting at a minimum that Trump 'now' is a Putin ally, and all I can say is: and this is news?

Ernst Cassirer, especially his 'Myth of the State' should be at least as well-known as Heidegger, Sartre, and The Frankfurt School. That is all.

Trump and Hegseth and apocalyptic white evangelicals: Making America barbaric again. The magnitude of the malignant normality (the great Robert Jay Lifton's term) is difficult to comprehend in real time, but it is real and it is here.

All the alleged "news" from the Ukraine betrayal to so-called ambassadors resignations? All of this is outrageous, none of this is surprising. No hepatomancy, no tea leaves necessary. Constitutions are fragile things. Use responsibly.

Good night. Peace.

John Adams letter to Thomas Jefferson, 10 February 1812 TLDR: "I think, these Prophecies are not only unphilosophical and inconsistent with the political Safety of States and Nations..."

Ernst Cassirer knew. Homo mythicus > Homo economicus

As the US attempts to strip naturalized citizens of their rights, as ice vans roam the streets carrying blockheads rather than blocks of ice, it is worth stating that the moral turpitude of US evangelical Xisn leaders is on the same level as that of those who led the Inquisition.

All your life the odd person out, self-loathing, only to realize you were the one wfio saw through and saw more clearly than those within your world. You paid the price of deference and assuming those who were older, those who were "just teasing" you were superior, wiser, more knowledgeable.

There is a perverse and bizarre bloodlust in certain strains of Christianity (Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? — WTF?). Pete Hegseth is but one iteration of this curious aspect of the religion"s origins and differs not all from the audiences watching gladiator spectacles in the Coliseum.

You know who has a lot to answer for but never will? John Danforth and the late Kit Bond.

US apocalypytic evangelical Christianity, simplified 1. French Revolution -> 2. British evs fear end of world -> 3. John N Darby-> North America. -> Spreads rapture -> 4. C.I. Scofield... 5. Two world wars, Depression 6. New Deal, GI Bill -> 7. Evs $$$ = power 8. Evs attempt societal suicide

When the real society of the spectacle turns and shouts back at Guy Debord, all Jack Nicholson style, 'You want spectacle, I'll show you spectacle!' Public crucifixions: just another day in the US that the apocalypytic evangelicals built. There will be, there must be, blood.

Tell me again how polarization and wokeness created this monstrosity, Jonathan Haidt. Jesus fucking Christ.

The rule, not the exception. The rule, not the exception.

«La crisi consiste appunto nel fatto che il vecchio muore e il nuovo non può nascere: in questo interregno si verificano i fenomeni morbosi più svariati.» — Antonio Gramsci, Quaderni del carcere

I know this is a reaction to a song that came out decades ago, but I just want to say to U2, and Bono specifically, that there is no shame in eating from a can. ;) In fact a certain California-based store sells tins of dolmades and tins of seasoned chickpeas that are amazing eaten in this manner.

Jesus of Nazareth was a Carpenter Jack Smith is my hero

And the apocalypytic evangelical element of the populist right is a big part of that appeal. It began long before Trump. One could argue it began with Billy Graham and his televised crusades.

i just want to note that as soon as i posted this i did think "oh yeah, this is just fukuyama's last man"