Rev. Jen Butler

You can’t make this stuff up. They just erected a 22-foot golden statue of Trump. It’s as if they’ve never heard the story of the narcissistic King Nebuchadnezzar — or the faithful resistance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or the idolatrous golden calf in Exodus 32. This is simple. Do not bow down to idols. Do not be intimidated by tyrants. Follow Jesus. Not Trump.

It does feel some days like we have chosen to die, chosen to bring this country down.

Unia Europejska jest niedoskonała, irytująca, nudna, ale niczego lepszego w naszej historii nie wymyśliliśmy. Czas pokoju, dobrobytu, wolności, demokracji i solidarności między narodami przez wieki walczącymi ze sobą to cud. Niech trwa jak najdłużej.

Evangelical Christian leaders literally gathering around a gold statue of the president and celebrating it, all while raging against any accusation of idolatry. This is what idol worship looks like.

Search is full of ads and wrong answers. Every other email is an ad. Prime Video charges you and shows ads. Paramount? Ads. Peacock? YouTube? Hulu? Ads followed by more ads. Netflix full of ads. Meta and X, every other thing is an ad. Pinterest is nothing but ads. AI is in everything. AI finishes sentences incorrectly and won’t stop. AI reads your email and search history to target you with more ads. Every time you open an app or visit a site there’s an update making it worse. In a hurry? First, click here to agree to terms you don’t have time to read and must accept. You need an account to do that. Change your temporary password. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email and enter that code. Now use a passkey. Your password is too simple to remember. Change it. No, not like that. Now log on. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email for a code… Welcome back! We’ve updated our terms of service and privacy policy (you have none). Subscribe to the site. Subscribe to Netflix. Subscribe to toilet paper. Subscribe to these groceries. Pay a membership fee for the right to subscribe then tip your driver who delivers the subscriptions your membership lets you subscribe to. Time to work? We’ve got to update your laptop and will slow down everything you do until you agree to update. But first, click here to agree. Update installed — your laptop’s broken now. It doesn’t matter, since your boss just replaced you with AI. Go to your phone to complain on social media. Wait, your phone needs an update so we can add more AI. Click here. Oh sorry, your phone can’t handle this update. Now it’s useless. Go get the newest phone. Here’s a text from a friend, an email, a voice mail they left three days ago but you didn’t see until now because of sync problems with the cloud. It’s their GoFundMe. Their MLM. Their Patreon. Never mind, you didn’t respond to their text within 9 minutes and now you’re no longer friends. They blocked you. Make new friends. Download this app to find people in your area. In your neighborhood. On your street. Two doors down from you. Do you know this person yet, we think you’d get along. You need an account to use this app. That username is taken. Enter a password. Not that one, you used it on another site. You need to be connected to WiFi to download the app. Allow the app to connect to other devices on your network. Allow the app to access your contacts, know your precise location, store your credit card details. Oops, sorry, we got hacked now all that info is available on the web. There’s a class action suit. You can join. It’ll take a decade to get your $3.73 share of the ten billion settlement. We’ll send it via PayPal or deposit it to your bank, just tell us those details. Oh no, another hack. That info is circulating now, too. Here’s a spam call, a spam email, a spam text. Why are you angry? Why are you talking about getting rid of your phone? Why don’t you like AI, it lets us make all of this easier? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? This is progress. You’ll be left behind. Do you want to be left behind? Do you???

Massive US airlift this morning to Gulf. Strong indicator of attack on Iran likely imminent

Putin in decline. China propping up but also embedding to detriment of Russian power. At least Putin has Trump and the GOP helping him to solve his problems.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV has named Salvadoran immigrant Evelio Menijar-Ayala to be West Virginia’s lone Catholic bishop. As a teenager, he made three attempts to enter the United States illegally. He finally arrived in California in 1990, having been smuggled in the trunk of a car with his brother over the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. Over the next several years, Menjivar-Ayala worked janitorial and construction jobs in California before deciding to become a priest. It’s a remarkable choice in a state that is over 90% white and voted for President Trump by 42 points.

Trump has joined with Russia and China to oppose a resolution that called Putin's invasion of Ukraine an act of "aggression." Now why would Trump be worried about condemning aggression? trib.al/THIJtTz

Trump Just Released a Report on “Anti-Christian Bias.” Christians Should Be Alarmed. open.substack.com/pub/revjenbutl…

Keeping the grift in the family, imitating Turkey where biggest drone company is owned by...Erdogan's son in law.

“Why would the Trump administration try to make it harder for families to care for their disabled children? Because they are disgusted by their existence. They want to go back to a world in which such people are sent away.” open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark…

Too many GOP leaders are trying to destroy our alliances, prop up enemies, kill Americans in the streets, and make people vanish in internment camps. These people will lose. One danger that will remain after is the crippling debt Republicans have left us. wsj.com/economy/u-s-de…

This is the man who led the Pentagon meeting where officials say Pete Hegseth’s Department of War threatened the Vatican.

"Know where you stand and stand there." Daniel Berrigan, SJ

The Trump administration has abruptly decided to end more than 60 years of relationship with Catholic Charities caring for unaccompanied migrant children. americamagazine.org/last-take/2026…

How is this being treated as normal? A Republican governor is declaring a state of emergency to cancel an ongoing election for Congress. If you think this is ends with redistricting, you are not paying attention.

the CATO Institute.. a libertarian think tank funded by the Koch brothers.. just published a study showing immigrants paid more in taxes than they received in benefits every single year from 1994 to 2023.. not a left-wing university.. not a Democratic PAC.. the Koch brothers' own research institute.. they reduced the deficit by $14.5 trillion over 30 years.. they earn less per hour but work at higher rates.. which means higher per capita income.. which means higher taxes paid.. the country spent 30 years being told immigrants were draining the system.. turns out they were funding it.. and the people who told you that knew the numbers the whole time

Patients are piling up in emergency rooms while waiting for a real bed—and the problem is only getting worse, Elisabeth Rosenthal reports. theatln.tc/dhFpZCtg 🎨: Isabel Seliger / Sepia