Saturday, April 04, 2026

“…you didn’t do for me.”

MAGA (what’s left of it) was unhappy with this nurse for reading Matthew 25:

Matthew 25:31-46 (SV) 

"When the Son of Adam comes in his glory, accompanied by all his messengers, then he will occupy his glorious throne. Then all peoples will be assembled before him, and he will separate them into groups, much as a shepherd segregates sheep from goats. He'll place the sheep to his right and the goats to his left. Then the king will say to those at his right, 'Come, you who have the blessing of my Father, inherit the domain prepared for you from the foundations of the world. You may remember, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a foreigner and you showed me hospitality; I was naked and you clothed me; I was ill and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to see me.' Then the virtuous will say to him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you or thirsty and gave you drink? When did we notice that you were a foreigner and extend hospitality to you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we find you ill or in prison and come to visit you? 

And the king will respond to them, 'I swear to you, whatever you did for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you did for me as well.' 

Next, he will say to those on his left, 'You, condemned to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his messengers, get away from me! You too may remember, I was hungry and you didn't give me amything to eat; I was thirsty and you refused me a drink; I was a foreigner and you failed to extend hospitality to me; naked and you didn't clothe me; ill and in prison and you didn't visit me.' 

Then they will give him a similar reply: 'Lord, when did we notice that you were hungry or thirsty or a foreigner or naked or weak or in prison, and did not attempt to help you?' 

He will then respond: 'I swear to you, whever you didn't do for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you didn't do for me.' 

The second group will then head for everlasting punishment, but the virtuous for everlasting life. 

Hamilton’s critics say that she is misrepresenting Scripture, but she wonders how that can be when she was literally just reading Jesus’ words.

Why in the world would they think that?

Trump is seeking to pay for his new $1.5 trillion military budget by cutting the following:

$510 million - Grants for farmers and agricultural research
$82 million - Loans for rural small businesses (Fully eliminated)
$61 million - Support for farmers and food markets (Fully eliminated)
$240 million - School meals and food education for children abroad (Fully eliminated)
$659 million - Community building grants
$47 million - Support for minority-owned businesses (Fully eliminated)
$449 million - Economic development grants for communities
$1.6 billion - Weather forecasting, fisheries, and coastal protection (NOAA)
$993 million - Scientific research and technology standards
$150 million - Support for American exports and trade
$2.2 billion - Broadband and internet access programs
$8.5 billion - Funding for public schools
$1.5 billion - Vocational training and adult education (Fully eliminated)
$2.7 billion - College access and higher education support
$15.2 billion - Roads, bridges, and infrastructure projects
$1.1 billion - Home energy efficiency and clean energy programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.1 billion - Scientific research funding
$386 million - Environmental cleanup programs
$150 million - Cutting-edge clean energy research
$4 billion - Help paying home heating and cooling bills for low-income families (Fully eliminated)
$768 million - Refugee resettlement assistance
$819 million - Care and shelter for migrant children
$775 million - Local anti-poverty programs (Fully eliminated)
$5 billion - Public health programs, mental health services, and disease prevention
$5 billion - Medical research (NIH)
$129 million - Healthcare quality and safety research
$356 million - Emergency preparedness and disaster response
$1.3 billion - FEMA community disaster preparedness grants
$707 million - Cybersecurity protection for critical infrastructure
$52 million - Airport and transportation security
$40 million - Protection against chemical and biological weapons threats
$53 million - Funding for homeland security operations
$3.3 billion - Community development block grants for local neighborhoods (Fully eliminated)
$1.3 billion - Affordable housing construction grants (Fully eliminated)
$393 million - Programs to reduce homelessness
$529 million - Housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS (Fully eliminated)
$489 million - Housing and services for Native American communities
$50 million - Grants to help communities build more housing (Fully eliminated)
$60 million - Enforcement of fair housing and anti-discrimination laws
$58 million - Homebuyer and renter counseling services (Fully eliminated)
$45 million - Renewable energy development programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.7 billion - Grants for local law enforcement and public safety
$20 million - Civil rights mediation and legal access programs (Fully eliminated)
$1.6 billion - Job training for at-risk youth (Fully eliminated)
$395 million - Jobs program for low-income seniors (Fully eliminated)
$234 million - Worker safety and labor protection programs
$101 million - Enforcement of equal pay and workplace anti-discrimination laws
$46 million - Programs to combat child labor and forced labor abroad
$2 billion - International humanitarian aid
$1.2 billion - Food aid for hungry families abroad (Fully eliminated)
$4.3 billion - Global health and disease prevention programs
$2.7 billion - Funding for the United Nations and international partnerships
$642 million - International economic and treasury programs
$315 million - Democracy and anti-corruption programs abroad
$486 million - Grants for public transit projects
$4.2 billion - Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
$372 million - Airline service for rural and small communities
$145 million - Grants for sustainable and equitable infrastructure
$204 million - Loans and investment for underserved communities
$1.4 billion - IRS taxpayer services and enforcement
$100 million - Air pollution monitoring and reduction programs (Fully eliminated)
$1 billion - EPA grants to states for environmental protection
$2.5 billion - Clean drinking water and wastewater infrastructure funds
$90 million - Grants to reduce diesel pollution (Fully eliminated)
$3.4 billion - NASA space and earth science research
$297 million - NASA technology innovation programs
$1.1 billion - International Space Station operations
$143 million - STEM education programs
$309 million - Small business development and entrepreneurship programs
$170 million - Small Business Administration operations
$158 million - Loans for small businesses
Maybe because they think this is good? And that Jesus would do what they would do? First mistake: thinking Jesus would always do what you would do. “Glory be to God!” does not mean: “Because God agrees with me.”
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Holy! Saturday! Batman!

Seriously hard to imagine that generals are telling Hegseth that bellicosity is not a strategy, from the outside looking in:
The U.S. Department of Defense has given President Trump a plan to seize nearly 1,000lbs of highly-enriched uranium from at least one nuclear site in Iran, that would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for cargo planes to take the radioactive material out, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Washington Post.
A French general just looked at Trump’s plan to build a runway inside Iran to fly out uranium under active bombing.

His response: “American officials should stop snorting cocaine between meetings.”

This is the same man who called joining Trump’s war “buying cheap tickets for the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.”

The French are not holding back.
It just bears repeating: In the same vein: Is this about how low the minimum wage is, or…?

And because you always think it can’t get any worse:
 
When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory–must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it — for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

(After a pause.) “Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!”

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
—Mark Twain 
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Holy Saturday 2026

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Friday, April 03, 2026

Just Now?

Doesn’t say much for the general level of comprehension and sentience in D. C.

I figured anyone paying attention could see that by the time Trump’s hand came off the Bible (it must have burned!) over a year ago.
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The Silence Is Not The Silence Of Good Friday

There have been several incidents involving U.S. aircraft in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operation (AO) within the last 24 hours:
1. A U.S. Air Force F-15E "Strike Eagle" was hit by Iranian fire and crashed in Iran. Both crew members survived, with 1 being rescued, and a large combat search and rescue operation is ongoing for the 2nd.
2. A U.S. Air Force HH-60W "Jolly Green II" conducting operations to rescue the downed F-15 crew took small-arms fire with at least 1 crew member injured, but it continued back to base.
3. The pilot of a U.S. Air Force A-10C "Thunderbolt II" ejected over the Persian Gulf, with Iran claiming responsibility for shooting it down. The pilot was recovered safely.
4. A U.S. Air Force F-16C "Fighting Falcon" briefly showed on flight tracking sites squawking 7700 (emergency) over Iraq.
5. A U.S. Air Force KC-135 "Stratotanker" was squawking 7700 (emergency) over Israel.
Of course, when you want Trump to shut up…. What has Trump done today?
Statement today from Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah, as several Republican lawmakers begin to break from President Trump over the ongoing and escalating Iran War:

“I stand by the President’s actions taken in defense of our national security interests in the Middle East. But we must be clear-eyed about history and the Constitution. While I support maintaining our readiness and replenishing stockpiles, I cannot support funding for further military operations without a formal Declaration of War from Congress.”
Pope Leo: I'm told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war. I hope that he's looking for an off-ramp. I hope he's looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, the bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that's increasing constantly.
I'm devastated to report that lots of Trump & Bibi supporters believe that I have betrayed my principles for arguing that Dems should be reaching out to the anti-war left and not shunning them in this moment.

I will look inside & reflect. I must admit that on the surface this seems like a convenient thing to be mad about to avoid reckoning with the historic disaster that is Trump & Bibi's Iran war and the coming wreckage for the global economy and the GOP that is going to result.
Or you could complain about what the Pope said. Or respond to Trump, about whether or not to take the oil. As if he could….
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Having A Good Friday

That long? Metaphor. Now we know why Trump is letting Russian tankers dock at Cuba. We had healthcare back then. Goddammit, I thought they’d forgotten about that. Well, it comes back just in time for the midterms. Should be a real crowd pleaser. Especially since we can’t afford healthcare and war(s). Make it so, No. 1!
Iranian operatives have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs, returning them to operation hours after an attack, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still retaining a significant amount of its cruise and ballistic missiles as well as mobile launchers, according to recent U.S. intelligence reports shared with The New York Times.
Official White House response: “We just need two more weeks to target all their shovels.”🪏  Leavitt told reporters Trump is spending all that time reading, adding: “Why are you laughing?”

And to close out the day:
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We Had IG’s Finding Fraud In The Government

Then Trump took office, and fired almost every one of them. 

Now Vance is going to do it single-handedly?

This is as reasonable as saying ICE is going to intimidate every voter in America in November. Or any of them.
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Just Another Two Weeks Of This

A McDonnell-Douglas ACES II (Advanced Concept Ejection Seat) from a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle has been found by residents in Southern Iran, the whereabouts or status of the pilot and weapons officer is currently unknown, with unconfirmed reports that one or both of the crewmembers have been captured by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
May the CSAR be effective, and the crew recovered.

UPDATE: the pilot has been rescued.
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Receipts

Trump: "The US can't take of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We're fighting wars. Medicaid, Medicare -- they can do it on a state basis. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. But all these little scams that have taken place, you have to let states take care of them."
Trump was "taken out of context:" Or not:
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You Can Feel The Flopsweat

 “Context is all”:

May WTI crude oil surged sharply in the holiday-shortened week ending April 3, settling at $111.54, up $11.90 or +11.94%. The move was driven by a combination of geopolitical escalation, supply disruption risks, and growing concerns about global oil infrastructure security. Traders were forced to rapidly reprice risk, with volatility spiking across the energy complex as headlines intensified into the close.
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Pandemonium (“House of All Demons”)

Following today’s removal of Pam Bondi as U.S. Attorney General and last month’s replacement of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, several people familiar with the White House’s plans tell The Atlantic there are active discussions about other senior officials soon leaving the Trump Administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

 But not Hegseth?

No. Obviously not. Whether Blanche is a white knight is another matter:
"The new acting attorney general, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, can legally hold the post without Senate confirmation until the end of October," he wrote. "Whether the president opts to ride that one out for as long as he can or decides to kick off what could be a bruising confirmation fight with a Republican Senate majority that seems to be running out of patience with the president this election year.

"Whether it is Blanche or someone else, they will end up in the same place as Bondi as long as Trump demands results, control and absolute personal loyalty all at once."
The funny thing is, Blanche lost that criminal case.
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Good Friday 2026



And when they reached the place known as Golgotha (which means "Place of the Skull"), they gave him a drink of wine mixed with something bitter; and once he tasted it he didn't want to drink it. After crucifying him they divided up his garments by casting lots.  And they sat down there and kept guard over him. And over his head they put an inscription which identified his crime: "This is Jesus, the King of the Judeans."

Beginning at noon darkness blanketed the entire land until mid-afternoon.  And about 3 o'clock in the afternoon Jesus shouted at the top of his voice:  "Eli, eli, lama sabachtani" (which means "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?")

Jesus again shouted at the top of his voice and stopped breathing.

Matthew 27:33-37, 45-46, 50 (SV)

"Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid."--John 19:41

I’ve never been able to say anything on Good Friday. Let the story be told; from one of the gospels; from all of the gospels, if you like. Good Friday should be silent.  The church should be shrouded, the altar stripped, black funereal cloths draped, only prayers and whispers heard.  No music; certainly there should be no music. Not even words from the pulpit. Certainly no words here. Let there be silence.

I always thought the Good Friday liturgy should just be the priest or the pastor reading the crucifuxion story, and then stripping the altar. I saw an Episcopal priest do it, once. Very ritualistic. Everything on the altar was removed; the cloths were removed. The top of the altar was washed and dried. And then the priest and the people helping, left. Silence. Private prayers. Quiet prayers. And silence.

The church open the rest of the day. Who comes in? And why?

Good Friday should be silent.  This is the one day the church should be dominated by silence. The world needs occasions to consider the values of silence.

I will also point out that the words shouted by Jesus are the first lines of the 22nd Psalm.  The one that precedes the much more famous 23rd.  There is an entire sermon in that alone, how the 22nd requires the 23rd, and the 23rd equally requires the 22nd.  But not on Good Friday. This is not a day for more words.

This is a day for absolute silence of death. The silence of death. The silence we will all endure, one day, as our God did.
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Thursday, April 02, 2026

Little Big Man

Because we still haven’t destroyed more than half of Iran’s ballistic and missile launchers, or thousands of drones? So we’re going after softer targets? Like bridges they haven’t even opened yet?
Big man, aren’t you, Donald. Big, big man.
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The Shart Of The Deal

U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran still maintains a significant missile launching capability, including roughly half of its cruise and ballistic launchers, as well as thousands of one-way attack drones, despite daily strikes against military targets across Iran for the last five weeks by Israel and the United States, three sources familiar with the assessment told CNN.
How does this “deal making” work, again?
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What (Else) Could Go Wrong?

U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran still maintains a significant missile launching capability, including roughly half of its cruise and ballistic launchers, as well as thousands of one-way attack drones, despite daily strikes against military targets across Iran for the last five weeks by Israel and the United States, three sources familiar with the assessment told CNN.
.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has signed a memorandum directing military installation commanders to allow personnel with the Defense Department - namely, uniformed servicemembers - to request to carry privately owned firearms while in their nonofficial duty capacity on military bases within the United States.
The 41st Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Gen. Randy George, has been asked to step down from the post and retire immediately by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who wants someone in the role who will implement his and President Trump “vision” for the Army, sources tell CBS News. Vice Chief of a Staff of the Army, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who was formerly Hegseth’s military aide, will serve as Acting Army Chief of Staff until a successor to Gen. George is approved by the Senate.
That’s certainly bad. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! Trump to America: “Fuck you.” Has the White House commented on that yet? Well, of course they did. The “Me, or your lyin’ eyes,” defense.
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Does He Think That’s A Picture Of The Actual Davey Crockett?

That’s the only thing that would make this worse.
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I Remember This Kind Of Inflation

In the’70’s. When inflation was moving at double digits. And prices would change by the hours.

Volcker finally wrung it out of the economy in the ‘80’s, with double digit interest rates. That won’t work this time. Nothing will, except time and a cessation of hostilities. Not either/or; it must be both/and.

Aren’t we glad we got the price of eggs down for a while?

I’m really too old for this shit again.
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Reading The Lectionary: The Servant Submits

These are actually the readings for Wednesday, but I started a day late, and dedicated myself to finishing what I started.
Isaiah 50:4-9a

The servant submits to suffering

The Lord GOD has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens, wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand in court together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
The language here echoes the scenes where God, through a prophet, demands Israel enter the metaphorical courtroom and put their case against God for allowing the Exile. But there God puts God’s self above human concerns, not because God is aloof, but because God is righteous, and has been (and remains) faithful to the covenant, while Israel has not. Here, however, the prophet is faithful to God; and despite the brutality of the Exile, remains so. And again, the prophet identifies with Israel; or at least presents an object lesson for how Israel should behave.

The prophet submits to calumny, but the prophet is not shamed. Our Anglo-Saxon (for one) culture teaches that we cannot accept shame; we must fight back to reclaim our “dignity.” Trump is the worst and most extreme example of this: All because Springsteen was interviewed on Fox News and didn’t have kind things to say about Trump. Isaiah presents the opposite example to Israel.  And here is the other difference between biblical Israel and our modern concept of the nation state. 

Biblical Israel exists as a lineage, the children of Abraham. One is born into it (but it is not “birthright citizenship”). Israel exists because of the covenant, so it is corporate rather than wholly individual. The nation state is corporate, but it is composed of individuals bound to a common purpose; but not bound by a covenant with God established by ancestry. So you can’t read the moral obligation laid on Israel as one that can be laid on a nation state. Niebuhr was right about that; individuals can be moral, nations cannot. An individual can sacrifice their life for a moral purpose. A nation’s obligation is to preserve and protect the nation, which is the individuals of that nation (I speak of democracies, obviously). That’s the irreducible friction we have with Isaiah, and the nation of Israel he addresses. We cannot think in terms of individual and nation being equally obligated to an ethic, because while the individual may be a suffering servant, one whose faith is in God and whose resolve is in the assurance of the justice of God, the nation state cannot do likewise, or demand that its citizens do. Even the Israel Isaiah addresses, doesn’t want to do that. The tension between what God requires, and what biblical Israel, or we modern individuals, will do, is real; and irresolvable. “Israel” still means “struggles with God.”
 Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O LORD, make haste to help me!

Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me.

Let those who say, "Aha, Aha!" turn back because of their shame.

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!
Hebrews 12:1-3

Look to Jesus, who endured the cross

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.
Isaiah wants Israel to follow the example he preaches, even if he doesn’t embody (like some of the prophets, Hosea most notably, did) everything he teaches. The letter to the Hebrews wants to teach that lesson to individuals, mostly to the children of Abraham. It presents Christ as an example to follow, not unlike Paul did. That example is one of faithfulness, and humility. “Lord, when did we see you?,” the line from the closing parable of Matthew’s gospel, is present here. Paul recalls Abraham at Mamre, and tells us we, too, may show hospitality to angels unaware. The letter to the Hebrews echoes Isaiah’s suffering servant as our role model. Matthew tells us when we are a servant to anyone who is the least among us, we are a servant to God. And that is all that’s required of us: to follow the commandment, to love one another.
John 13:21-32

Jesus foretells his betrayal

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me."

The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.

One of his disciples--the one whom Jesus loved--was reclining close to his heart;

Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.

So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.

After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do."

Now no one knew why he said this to him.

Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival," or that he should give something to the poor.

So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
Jesus is worried, again. Sometime earlier, as we are reading it, Jesus has just worried, openly, about his impending crucifixion and, after some enigmatic words about light and darkness, he slips away into darkness. Or at least to where he can’t be seen. Now here he is, back again, the night before the end, the last night, and he’s worried again.

Well; he is only human.

And then Judas slips wordlessly into the night. Now it is Judas who disappears from sight into darkness. Light and shadow; hidden and revealed. The seed hides life that is only revealed when the seed is hidden.

“Reclining at table,” by the way, is literal. It’s the way people sat in 1at century Palestine. They didn’t “sit up to the table,” as my elders all instructed me, knees bent and feet beneath the groaning board in the soup and fish, as Bertie Wooster would say. They reclined, legs perpendicular to the table, propped on an elbow. And they ate with their fingers. Probably with pita bread, it occurs to me. Probably not the fat, airy loaves we think of as bread. Probably not at the time of the Passover.

I don’t know, and don’t presume, but I wonder if the original “last supper” shared something with the Seder. That meal is more ritualistic, but the ritual may have more to do with the diaspora after the destruction of the Temple. All four gospels were written after 70 C.E, but the rabbinical Judaism we are familiar with, rooted by and large in the work of the Pharisees, didn’t spring full blown into existence in 71. Passover observance would have been at the Temple. It’s why the crowds and the money changers were there, and why Jesus was, too. It’s also why the cleansing of the Temple upset Pilate enough to order the crucifixion of the rabble rouser to quell any thoughts of challenging the Pax Romana during the festival celebrating the exodus of Israel from bondage and oppression. So it probably wasn’t a Seder meal. But the bread was probably closer to unleavened than not.

Pita is raised by the way it’s formed and baked, not by the amount of yeast in it. It’s speculative, but these minor speculations enrich the story for me. After all, our primary image of this iconic meal is an Italian Renaissance one, with all 13 persons (probably where triskadekaphobia originated) on one side of the table, seated in chairs and facing the viewer who stares through the fourth wall. We take the details for granted, and miss the reality. Does it matter what kind of bread it was? No. But if it refocuses our attention, makes us start over and look anew, the challenge has served its purpose.

You’ll nothing much happens here. The action, in John, came earlier, with the sacrament that wasn’t. The meal here is shown only in the bread handed to Judas (and how Johannine is that act? Mark, the oldest gospel, has Jesus tell his disciples that the one who dips his bread in the bowl with Jesus, is the betrayer. But Mark doesn’t describe Judas doing that thereafter, so maybe Judas has been doing it all night, and nobody really noticed. But John’s Jesus is always in charge, and hands the fatal sign to Judas after dipping it in the oil. “This is my body,” indeed; and he hands it over to his betrayer.) Again, the servant accepts his fate.

The Crucified God. The power of powerlessness. Death, be not proud.

But then, neither should any of us.
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What Susie Told TIME

Sure; that's the problem.
[Trump] wrote the following on his Truth Social platform:

"Thank you to all of our Great Congressional Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Leader John Thune, for their work this week. Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers. Because the Democrats are fully and 100% committed to the Radical Left Policy of Open Borders and Zero Immigration Enforcement (which will hopefully cost them dearly in the Midterms!), allowing Murderers and Criminals of all types into our Country, totally unchecked and unvetted, I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long at the hands of the Extreme Liberal 'Leaders,' Cryin’ Chuck Schumer and Hakeem 'High Tax' Jeffries. Nevertheless, help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
The Iran war has made things immeasurably worse, but Trump’s serious problems with the electorate began in the streets of Minneapolis. After ICE paved the way in Chicago and Seattle and Los Angeles.

And what is Susie telling Trump? Or does she like her job?

Trump is a feral political genius, ya know.
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THIS IS NOT AN IMPROVEMENT

Trump fired Bondi because she wasn’t putting enough of his “enemies” in jail.

What’s Blanche gonna do to improve that record?
And who’s going to tell Shouty Grandpa that the federal government has bugger all to do with the murder rate, since almost all murder prosecutions are handled by the states?
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Representative Government Is Fine…

Lyman: It's hard to take seriously half of the country's dissatisfaction with the president when they were rallying against war with an actual nuclear power.

Blow: You think that we shouldn’t have been supporting Ukraine?

Lyman: I do not think that was our war.

Mockler: So you guys are going to complain in one breath we shouldn't support Ukraine at all. And then you'll be like, wait a minute those same allies refused to come help us?
... as long as it represents what I like. Otherwise, it’s discardable. And our allies should support us, but we shouldn’t have to support them.
Lyman: They are freeloaders.

Blow: Most of the nato countries were part of the 2015 Iran deal. They had negotiated with us. We were we were dealing with the issue. We were dealing with the with the nuclear material. Donald Trump snatches us out of that. Then he rushes into this war only with Israel. And then he asks the people who had negotiated that former deal to say, now that I've done this on my own, you need to come and help me out. I didn't deal with you on the front end. I didn't negotiate with you. I didn't ask you for for your help or planning or anything. But now that I have done this on my own, it is your responsibility to come and help us out. It's an extraordinary claim.
What good are allies anyway? And besides, history is bunk.
Mockler: Democrats gave Republicans multiple off ramps, and Trump was the one that spiked it. And our ask was very simple. We were looking at the case that Minnesota just waged against the admin saying, listen, you guys are spiking investigations into murders that happened in the streets of Minnesota. You guys are not allowing the proper investigations. All we want to do is have state actors held accountable when they abuse their power. And that's what this was all over. Republicans apparently disagree.
Pwning the libs.
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We Have All The Oil We Need

Or: the world listened to Trump last night. Not much imagination required.
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History Lessons

The Paris Peace Accords started under LBJ. But both LBJ and Nixon expanded the war in pursuit of “peace.”

We all know how that worked out.
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Maundy Thursday 2026


Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

12:2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.

12:3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.

12:4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.

12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

12:6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

12:7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

12:8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12:9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.

12:10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

12:11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD.

12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

12:13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

12:14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.

116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

116:12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?

116:13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,

116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.

116:16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.

116:17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.

116:18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,

11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

11:25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

13:2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper

13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,

13:4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

13:5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

13:7 Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

13:8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

13:9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"

13:10 Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you."

13:11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

13:12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?

13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am.

13:14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

13:15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

13:16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.

13:17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

13:31b When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

“Maundy,” I have been told, but never confirmed, is a Middle English word (or was) , for “commandment.” Perhaps. It’s appropriate, if true. And appropriate, even if not true.

Paul doesn't call it a commandment, or a sacrament.  He just passes on to the church in Corinth what he received from the Lord (where and how is never clear.  Biblical scholars wonder about dangling threads like this, and tug at them constantly).  John mentions a commandment:  "that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  Typical for the Johannine narrative, what that means in practice is entirely unclear.  Jesus speaks in confusing parables and makes pronouncements that carry far more under the surface than appears on the surface ("Your faith has saved you; go in peace."  Luke 7:50).  But John doesn't record any parables, at all.  Instead it is Jesus speaking almost gnostically (how, Nicodemus wonders, can one be "born again"?  Jesus makes it clear you either understand him, or you don't.), and here, as usual, he makes a sweeping statement with nothing to back it up.

Except.....

This is one of the few times in John's gospel that Jesus actually does something.  He raises Lazarus from the tomb, he changes water into wine, he speaks and God answers directly.  But none of those actions is comparable to this:  he doesn't talk about the servant role; he literally embodies it. Master of his disciples, head of the table, he takes a bowl and a towel and washes their feet.  The feet of men who have been walking in sandals all day in dust and dirt.  Remember what Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee?

"Do you see this woman? I walked into your house and you didn't offer me water for my feet; yet she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't offer me a kiss, but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I arrived. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh. (Luke 7:44b-46, SV)

That's a servant's job.  And it's not one any of us would take up willingly, or accept willingly.  I tried one year to initiate the footwashing service which is allowed, even encouraged in Protestant traditions, on Maundy Thursday.  A few of my church council members were willing to participate, and I had the bowl and towel.  It may be a profoundly moving religious ritual; but unless you are used to it, it is uncomfortable and awkward.  Much like it must have been the very first time it was done for the followers of Christ.

This is Jesus personally acting, and in all of John's gospel, indeed in all of the gospels, there is nothing comparable to it.  Jesus wept at the news of the death of Lazarus, which in John proves Jesus is human (in much of John's narrative Jesus is almost inhumanly abstract, and all but nails himself to the cross.  He doesn't die in agony, he pretty much says "Okay, that's all," and passes on.)  This is Jesus being supremely human, and supremely God.  This is God's weakness being stronger than human strength.  This is what Holy Week should really come down to, and all the rest be anti-climax against it.  It should be.  It isn't.  This is the sacrament that wasn't.  This is the command we still can't quite get around to.

The passover in Exodus is full of details and requirements, and that's actually a good thing.  Ritual demands acts that can and must be repeated to keep the ritual whole, which is almost to say "holy."  Do you open your presents on Xmas Day?  Or Xmas Eve?  First thing in the morning, or after breakfast?  Maybe after lunch, when the family has gathered?  Do you try to do Christmas the same way ever year?  Are the small details important?  No, there's nothing wrong with how the Passover is ordered for memory. The contrast is the simplicity of the footwashing.  Maybe that's why it fails.

Paul gives us a ritual, one most churches follow almost word for word from this passage in Corinthians.  All the words of institution are there, and they are protected jealously.  There is a formula for Christian baptism, and by common agreement it must include the trinitarian formula of being in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Those words; no others.  The words of institution for the eucharist are there, in Paul's words; and you cannot use them for elements other than bread and wine (like, say, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls on Xmas morning in a UCC church), because those words are "holy words," and not to be used lightly or wrongly.

But footwashing?  What ritual do we have for that?  We don't.  Catholics have, if memory serves, 7 sacraments (baptism, eucharist, marriage, death, confession. I'm probably wrong on some of those); Protestants have only two (Baptism, eucharist).  If the words are not right, if the formula is not preserved, the sacrament isn't a sacrament.  No one has a ritual for footwashing.  Yes, the Pope does it, if he is physically able.  The monarchs did it in Europe, at least in the Middle Ages.  Even then it soon shifted from actually washing feet to simply giving gifts to those whose feet were not washed.  It never held on very long.   As I said, I tried it once on a Maundy Thursday with my church council members.  It was very hard for all of us; I mean very hard.  And it didn't seem to mean much to anyone there, except discomfort.  That's the nature of rituals:  if they are not familiar, they are simply awkward and off-putting.   They gain their power from familiarity, even though they can lapse into roteness and lose their power again.  But when they are awkward and invasive and almost embarrassing, they are just an obstacle.  Footwashing  is too intimate, too personal.  If it was meant by John to be linked to that command that we love one another as Jesus loved us, if it is connected to washing our feet as Jesus connected it to an act of love in Luke , then we have failed this command, and rejected this commandment.

I said rituals are an obstacle, because they are.  Paul told his churches to follow the eucharisto.  It must have been hard for them, because some turned it into play, or an excuse for a feast for those "worthy," and not for the rest.  They didn't want to immediately treat it was a holy sacrament.  But no one wants to be last of all and servant of all.  And yet, that's one of the most important teachings in the gospel.  Being servant of all is the ultimate sign of humility.  It is the true calling to serve God and the Christ (I repeat for emphasis, not to blur the doctrine of the Trinity).  Evangelicals (in the modern sense) think that "true calling" is to "save souls."  But how much easier is it to "witness," than it is to actually serve?  And to make a ritual, a sacrament, of service?  To do as John tells us Jesus did?

Love is so much easier when it remains in our hearts and minds, rather than when it is shown by what we put in our hands.  How we literally and physically show it, in other words. Thinking is easy; doing is always another matter.

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Medicare And Medicaid …

... were started during the Vietnam War. And have continued through every war since.
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Wednesday, April 01, 2026

How To Insult Friends And Piss Off People

To be fair, who didn’t know that? I’m old enough to remember Elmo pouring money into a local race that he might as well have spent on a wild weekend in Vegas. So I’m sure this will work out well. Can somebody translate that into coherent English? 
President Trump: “Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred.”
Pretty sure we were going to “hit them pretty hard” for a month, now. And we’ve had a running monthlong discussion about regime change and whether or not it had occurred. So I didn’t miss anything. What a surprise. Another non-surprise. Trump remains a stable genius. How to insult friends and piss off people. Oh, and fuck up the global economy.
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