by John Ellis It’s rare that a conversation with an Uber passenger catches me by surprise. One such conversation happened on a Sunday morning several months ago while giving a ride to a man on his way to church. Per my usual with any Uber passenger on the way to church, I asked questions about … Continue reading Donald Trump, ICE, and the Muzzling of the Church’s Prophetic Voice
Category: Current Events
Donald Trump Totalitarian Watch: Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Territory (Unless It’s Named Greenland)
by John Ellis I’m rereading The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics by James Oakes. It was part of an assigned reading list for a class I took years ago. It’s an excellent book, and one that I’ve read several times since then, although I do believe … Continue reading Donald Trump Totalitarian Watch: Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Territory (Unless It’s Named Greenland)
Critiquing ‘The Anxious Generation’ by Jonathan Haidt
by John Ellis I didn’t read many pages into The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt before methodological red flags began waving in my face. A quick Google search uncovered scores of articles taking The New York Time’s bestseller to task for a … Continue reading Critiquing ‘The Anxious Generation’ by Jonathan Haidt
The Petty Meanness of the Trump Administration Is a Sinister Warning to Christians (fonts are the new front in MAGA’s War on Wokeness)
by John Ellis Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the State Department to revert to the Times New Roman font in all official documents. His order reverses one his predecessor, Secretary Antony Blinken, made in 2023 requiring all official State Department documents be typed using the Calibri font. Secretary Rubio’s reason, as explained in … Continue reading The Petty Meanness of the Trump Administration Is a Sinister Warning to Christians (fonts are the new front in MAGA’s War on Wokeness)
Time for a 28th Amendment? Congressional Pay and Government Shutdowns
by John Ellis My wife flew out west this week for work. Over the course of her travels, she had to sit in airports due to flight delays. Since air traffic controllers are not getting paid, many are calling in sick to work causing flight delays around the country. And, really, can we blame them? … Continue reading Time for a 28th Amendment? Congressional Pay and Government Shutdowns
The Assassination of Charlie Kirk, Part 2: A House Divided Cannot Coexist
by John Ellis In 1845 the American Anti-Slavery Society published a booklet titled “The Constitution a pro-slavery compact; (vol 11) or, Extracts from the Madison papers, etc.” It’s mainly composed of selected portions from Madison’s carefully kept records of the Constitutional Convention and a few other pertinent documents from the Founding era. As the booklet’s … Continue reading The Assassination of Charlie Kirk, Part 2: A House Divided Cannot Coexist
The Assassination of Charlie Kirk, Part 1: A House Divided Leads to Political Violence
by John Ellis During my junior year of high school, Christian fundamentalist Michael Griffin shot and killed Dr. David Gunn. What makes this noteworthy, besides the murder taking place in my hometown of Pensacola, FL, is that Dr. Gunn was an abortion doctor and Griffin an anti-abortion extremist. A little over a year later, on … Continue reading The Assassination of Charlie Kirk, Part 1: A House Divided Leads to Political Violence
Donald Trump Totalitarian Watch: Jimmy Kimmel and Free Speech Edition
by John Ellis Six months ago, on March 13, I wrote that “it may be time to begin planning a farewell party for free speech in America.” As it turns out, if you haven’t already baked your “Farewell, Free Speech” cake, you may no longer have the time to do so. At the very least, … Continue reading Donald Trump Totalitarian Watch: Jimmy Kimmel and Free Speech Edition
Knowledge Is Not Neutral: or, How ‘Data Over Dogma’ Is Idolatrous
by John Ellis I’m currently reading – working through – Frederic Jameson’s A Singular Modernity. Jameson is probably best known as a Marxist literary critic, but his work crosses multiple avenues, notably political theory and cultural/societal criticism. I’ve been exposed to Jameson via various books by other authors, articles, and lectures[1], but A Singular Modernity … Continue reading Knowledge Is Not Neutral: or, How ‘Data Over Dogma’ Is Idolatrous
Donald Trump, Bob Jones University, and Fundamentalist-styled Historical Revisionism
by John Ellis Earlier today, I published a short, anti-Trump diatribe (anti-totalitarianism diatribe, to be fair) in response to the White House’s letter to the Smithsonian Institute. The letter informs the Smithsonian that the White House will be reviewing exhibits, materials, and programs to ensure that they conform to President Trump’s definition of American exceptionalism … Continue reading Donald Trump, Bob Jones University, and Fundamentalist-styled Historical Revisionism
Practically Known Theology 