A shadow is rising in the East. Actually, it’s the West. It’s rising in the West. But it did rise east of here over seventy years ago. Continue reading
Category Archives: Peace
What Radicalized You?
People have been tossing around the word “radical” a lot lately. Continue reading
What We Can Learn From Magneto
Last month we had Passover and Easter. We also had Holocaust Remembrance Day. We also had an announcement about a big Marvel film. We also had some significant events happen at Harvard.
This all brought to mind something I’ve been thinking about, and it has to do with a famous comic book character. Continue reading
On the Myth of an Anti-War Trump
The other day a guy told me that it’s been so long since we’ve had such an anti-war president. I told him, “Yeah, it’s been a long time since Jimmy Carter.”
He said, “I meant Donald Trump.”
Is Trump anti-war?
The “Journalist” Interview of Putin Wasn’t Just Bad—It Was Propaganda
You can accuse mainstream outlets like MSNBC of being “state-run” all you want, but the proof is in the pudding.
In WW2 A newspaper owned by a U.S. President would be bad, but a newspaper owned by Hitler would be worse.
Tucker Carlson has always been and always will be an opportunist who has no problem capitulating to a dictator rather than engaging in journalism that serves We the People.
And men like Putin know that he would only be useful until he needs to have them executed, because men like Carlson will always go wherever the wind blows them.
The popularity of such a “news” personality should concern you greatly. If Russia ever successfully invaded the U.S., Tucker Carlson would be among those who would gladly shake hands with a dictator and volunteer to be his personal spokesperson. Because he already has.
So if he’s bad for our country, and we want to be a healthy democracy, our solution is to refuse to watch him, and address the serious problem of those who do watch him. That is why one should never apologize for ridiculing, mocking, and exposing fans of his material. This isn’t about opinion or taste in television. It’s about duty to your fellow man.
As to John Stewart, John Oliver, or Stephen Colbert, whether you like them or not, they excel at reminding us the emperor has no clothes.
Men like Tucker Carlson will bend over backwards to tell a naked king, “what fine threads you have.”
On the Unfolding/Continuing Israel-Palestine Conflict
A couple Sundays ago my 11-year-old told me that he learned about the war happening in Israel and how he wanted to pray for them.
Then he said, “And God will always take Israel’s side, right?” Continue reading
Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About the Roman Empire
It’s true, I think about the Roman empire a lot. There are a few reasons.
I’m a male.
I’m American.
I’m Christian.
But one of these things makes me think about the Roman empire in a very different way than the other two.
I Picked a Bad Night to Watch the News
I never watch the news. I sometimes read about it. There’s just too much to keep up with.
This past Friday I spent the night with my parents after my dad had a stint in the hospital. My brother used to live in Memphis, we have friends there, and the city is on the verge of something big as police body cam footage is about to be released. My mind has been filled with frustrating, sad, angry, and confusing thoughts.
It’s Holocaust Memorial Day, and the only positive news story I see is of a successful play about Holocaust survivors. But even that is only good news about bad news that must be remembered.
But there’s a tiredness to everything. What lessons have we learned? That same night, news of a shooting at a synagogue, that was a response to a shooting of Palestinians.
The home attack of the spouse of a House Speaker.
School shootings in schools where nothing was done.
And the killing of a man by five police officers in Memphis.
I picked the worst night to watch the news.
Nothing feels safe. Nothing feels stable. Nothing feels right.
It all keeps swirling around as the same experience in my head tonight as I sit with my parents, befuddled.
Why does this keep happening? Why did this happen this time? Who is responsible? What will be done to them? How do we keep it from happening again?
And these questions as being asked of everything. All the pain. All the violence. All the history repeating itself.
I’m tired of hearing over and over again of a few bad apples. What are we putting in the basket?
Where was the good news tonight?
Lord come quickly.
What Clint Smith and Frederick Douglass Taught Me About Critical Race Theory
“Oppression doesn’t disappear just because you decided not to teach us that chapter.”
I decided to write this post reflecting on the first July 4th celebration since the government officially recognized Juneteenth.
I’ve been following Clint Smith for some time now, after his Crash Course video series popped up on my YouTube feed at the same time that I read an article about him in Poets & Writers.
The Circles Around Us by Brad and Kristi Montague vs Circles by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Recently I read Brad and Kristi Montague’s new book Circles.
Then I went and read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s old essay, also called “Circles.”
I decided to review them both by making a compare/contrast chart. I couldn’t figure out how to make it a circle, so it’s going to be a rectangle, okay?
CALEB COY 