Non-theist Christian and elder in Community of Christ. I have Mormon roots and aspirations to do better with justice and peacemaking—especially in the digital sphere but also in Lexington, Kentucky, the U.S., and the world more broadly.
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🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Texas GOP's new platform says Biden didn't really win the 2020 election : NPR'
- kudos:I get that some of this is bluster and posturing, but that doesn’t make it any less worrying. This is the same state GOP that leaned into Gab a year or two ago. link to ‘Texas GOP’s new platform says Biden didn’t really win the 2020 election : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'There's a legal battle over burkinis in France : NPR'
- kudos:I have never understood the panic about burkinis. It’s one of many examples where French laïcité goes further than appropriate and desirable secularism. link to ‘There’s a legal battle over burkinis in France : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Kentucky court delves into use of cell phones for tracking | AP News'
- kudos:Good for the court, though the narrow majority is disappointing. link to ‘Kentucky court delves into use of cell phones for tracking | AP News’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Amid Jan. 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the G.O.P. - The New York Times'
- kudos:This is more worrying to me—and more damning for the GOP—than anything that happened on January 6th. link to ‘Amid Jan. 6 Revelations, Election Lies Still Dominate the G.O.P. - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on '4 takeaways from the third Jan. 6 hearing : NPR'
- kudos:Pence deserves credit for the steps he took on January 6th, but I agree that he has responsibilities to do more right now. link to ‘4 takeaways from the third Jan. 6 hearing : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump Attorney Eastman Admitted His Jan. 6 Plot Was Illegal—and Asked for a Pardon'
- kudos:All of this is worrying, but not as worrying as the possibility that it won’t make a difference in the minds of people who should be outraged. link to ‘Trump Attorney Eastman Admitted His Jan. 6 Plot Was Illegal—and Asked for a Pardon’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Facebook Is Receiving Sensitive Medical Information from Hospital Websites – The Markup'
- kudos:Well this is terrifying. link to ‘Facebook Is Receiving Sensitive Medical Information from Hospital Websites – The Markup’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on '$1-2 Billion In Streaming Ads A Year Aren’t Being Watched Because The TV Is Off | Techdirt'
- kudos:I mean, there’s still plenty to be worried about when it comes to targeted advertising and smart TVs, but this is a good reminder to take a step back. link to ‘$1-2 Billion In Streaming Ads A Year Aren’t Being Watched Because The TV Is Off | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'What the Latter-day Saint hymn ‘Love at Home’ has to do with blackface'
- kudos:So, so many wild things in this article. I grew up loving this hymn and had no idea it had roots in blackface minstrelsy. Hope the Church will take it out of its next hymnbook, but I’m not holding my breath. The real kicker is Brigham Young’s concern about blackface—not because it’s racist but because it’s degrading to white people. link to ‘What the Latter-day Saint hymn ‘Love at Home’ has to do with blackface’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Facebook Says Apple is Too Powerful. They're Right. | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
- kudos:Doctorow is spot on here. Apple may be the most benevolent of the big tech companies, but it still has far too much power over its users. link to ‘Facebook Says Apple is Too Powerful. They’re Right. | Electronic Frontier Foundation’
participation in June 12th Beyond the Walls online service
- kudos:A few weeks ago, John Hamer (from the Toronto-based Beyond the Walls inclusive online congregation of Community of Christ) reached out to ask if I would be interested in contributing a pre-recorded prayer to a June 12th “millennial prayer service” focused on Community of Christ’s Enduring Principles. The denomination describes its Enduring Principles as follows: Our Enduring Principles define the essence, heart, and soul of our faith community. They describe the personality of our church as expressed throughout the world.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Sweeping Legislation Aims to Ban the Sale of Location Data'
- kudos:Yes please. link to ‘Sweeping Legislation Aims to Ban the Sale of Location Data’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'A far-right plan to riot near an Idaho LGBTQ event heightens safety concerns at Pride : NPR'
- kudos:Given the aggressively queerphobic language I’ve read on Gab, events like this are worrying but not surprising. More worrying is the way that this queerphobic language is increasingly used in the mainstream GOP. How do Republican politicians and voters feel about these events? link to ‘A far-right plan to riot near an Idaho LGBTQ event heightens safety concerns at Pride : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Senator Declares Amazon Ring's Audio Surveillance Capabilities 'Threaten the Public' | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
- kudos:I’ve been plenty spooked by Ring’s video capabilities, but apparently I haven’t been worried enough about its audio surveillance. link to ‘Senator Declares Amazon Ring’s Audio Surveillance Capabilities ‘Threaten the Public’ | Electronic Frontier Foundation’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'EFF’s Flagship Jewel v. NSA Dragnet Spying Case Rejected by the Supreme Court | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
- kudos:Disappointing news, but glad for the fight that the EFF and others are waging. link to ‘EFF’s Flagship Jewel v. NSA Dragnet Spying Case Rejected by the Supreme Court | Electronic Frontier Foundation’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'How the Federal Government Buys Our Cell Phone Location Data | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
- kudos:The only thing worse than the already-bad reality of powerful, private data brokers is public agencies buying what they have to sell. link to ‘How the Federal Government Buys Our Cell Phone Location Data | Electronic Frontier Foundation’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Trump’s ‘Free Speech’ Social Network, Truth Social, Is Banning People For Truthing The Truth About January 6 Hearings | Techdirt'
- kudos:This is a peak example of what performative concerns about “free speech” boil down to. link to ‘Trump’s ‘Free Speech’ Social Network, Truth Social, Is Banning People For Truthing The Truth About January 6 Hearings | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Big Tech Has Spent $36 Million on Ads to Torpedo Antitrust Bill - WSJ'
- kudos:I haven’t read much about this bill, but it’s worrying that powerful entities have such an advantage in the debate about limiting their power. link to ‘Big Tech Has Spent $36 Million on Ads to Torpedo Antitrust Bill - WSJ’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Telecom Lobbyists Are About To Scuttle The Nomination Of A Popular Reformer To The FCC And Nobody Much Seems To Care | Techdirt'
- kudos:Depressing read, though I’ll freely admit I haven’t been paying enough attention here myself. link to ‘Telecom Lobbyists Are About To Scuttle The Nomination Of A Popular Reformer To The FCC And Nobody Much Seems To Care | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The linguistics search engine that overturned the federal mask mandate - The Verge'
- kudos:Very, very interesting read on how the purported objectivity of big data is influencing how (conservative) judges use corpus linguistics. link to ‘The linguistics search engine that overturned the federal mask mandate - The Verge’
should 'Hades' appear in the Book of Mormon?
- kudos:A few weeks ago, I posted about Book of Mormon dependence on the King James Version and the way that that sometimes raises interesting questions about how the text should be understood. As I continue my project of what a modern-language version of the Book of Mormon might look like, I’ve run into another example. 1 Corinthians 15:55 is referenced three times in the Book of Mormon, including in Mosiah 8 (Mosiah 16 LDS), where I’m currently working my way through the text.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk Threatens to End Twitter Deal Without Information on Spam Accounts - The New York Times'
- kudos:What a mess. Glad to be pivoting toward my blog and Mastodon. link to ‘Elon Musk Threatens to End Twitter Deal Without Information on Spam Accounts - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Axon Halts Plans to Sell Flying Taser Drones to Schools'
- kudos:What’s the point in having an ethics board if you’re going to so flagrantly ignore them? Good on members for responding with resignations, and thank goodness Axon woke up to how dunb their decision was. link to ‘Axon Halts Plans to Sell Flying Taser Drones to Schools’
an 'ultimate sense of FOMO' and joining Community of Christ
- kudos:Over the past several weeks, I’ve been putting a lot of work into adjusting my online presence, a project that I expect to last through most of the summer. In dividing my website into distinct subareas and pivoting from a single Twitter account to a number of Mastodon accounts, I’m trying to do something about the context collapse that’s been keeping me from sharing some of the big things going on in my life lately.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings : NPR'
- kudos:This is unbelievably dumb. School shootings can’t be solved by technology—it’s a social and political problem. Shame on Axon. link to ‘Firm proposes Taser-armed drones to stop school shootings : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Internet Can Still Be Small And Nice, But It’s On All Of Us To Make That Work | Techdirt'
- kudos:Some good thoughts by Masnick on a good op-ed by Wheaton. link to ‘The Internet Can Still Be Small And Nice, But It’s On All Of Us To Make That Work | Techdirt’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Our Obsession With Gas Prices Is Driving America Nuts'
- kudos:I have long been skeptical of gas prices as a talking point. Some interesting thoughts in here. link to ‘Our Obsession With Gas Prices Is Driving America Nuts’
Dallin Oaks and Marjorie Taylor Greene on heterosexual extinction
- kudos:Thanks to a recommendation from BoingBoing, I just finished reading a Business Insider article describing a recent video in which Marjorie Taylor Greene: predicted that identifying as heterosexual will be a thing of the past within a period of less than 200 years thanks to LGBTQ-inclusive sex educators, who she called “trans terrorists.” More specifically, Greene was quoted as saying that heterosexual extinction would come about “probably in about four or five generations.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows'
- kudos:GOP has some reckoning to do. link to ‘Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Great Replacement Theory, New Poll Shows’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Racist and Violent Ideas Jump From Web’s Fringes to Mainstream Sites - The New York Times'
- kudos:Content moderation is a good thing, and ‘free speech’ should not be our primary concern when it comes to social media platforms. link to ‘Racist and Violent Ideas Jump From Web’s Fringes to Mainstream Sites - The New York Times’
- kudos:
Listening to The Aquabats tonight and remembering how I pegged the Mormon connection when I was first listening to them because of subtle allusions to food storage and pioneer hymns.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'A Reporter Reflects on Covering Seven Mass Shootings — ProPublica'
- kudos:This is difficult but important to read. As gut wrenching as these shootings are, I am still distant enough from them that they don’t always stick with me. It’s helpful if depressing to read about what sticks with others who are closer to them. [link to ‘A Reporter Reflects on Covering Seven Mass Shootings — ProPublica’](https://www.propublica.org/article/shooting-news-msm-reporter-essay
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'McConnell mum on guns as U.S. Senate recesses for a week – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville'
- kudos:Disappointing but unsurprising. I wish McConnell would show as much willingness to call out Republicans on guns as he does for Ukraine. link to ‘McConnell mum on guns as U.S. Senate recesses for a week – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Richard Scarry's 21st Century Classroom | Boing Boing'
- kudos:Tom the Dancing Bug is usually just the right level of dark. link to ‘Richard Scarry’s 21st Century Classroom | Boing Boing’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on '‘It Was the Wrong Decision’: Uvalde Cops Waited in Hallway as Kids Called 911 Begging to Be Saved From Gunman'
- kudos:It makes me sick and angry to read all of this. We have so badly failed the children of this country. link to ‘‘It Was the Wrong Decision’: Uvalde Cops Waited in Hallway as Kids Called 911 Begging to Be Saved From Gunman’
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Ted Cruz walks away after reporter asks him why mass shootings keep happening : NPR'
- kudos:Imagine thinking that this is the price we pay for American exceptionalism. Imagine thinking that mourning these children and wanting to do something about it is a partisan agenda. link to ‘Ted Cruz walks away after reporter asks him why mass shootings keep happening : NPR’