Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"With Juneteenth approaching, it's a good time to discuss change. It's not hyperbole to say the prison industrial complex is modern day slavery. The 13th amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude EXCEPT for those convicted of a crime. It's time to end the exception" -- Olayemi Olurin (msolurin), 2022-06-16

"You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs
 I look around me and I see it isn't so
 Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
 And what's wrong with that?
 I'd like to know
 'Cause here I go again..."
  -- Sir Paul McCartney (b. 1942-06-18), "Silly Love Songs" (1976, on Wings at the Speed of Sound)

"Jesus said 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof' and it's like a theological Rorschach Test:

"Either you read it as saying you don't need to worry because God never gives you more than you can handle

"Or you read it as saying that every day is absolutely stuffed with crap

"I find it a very helpful way to quickly discover how people are really doing, based on which interpretation they first think of."

-- Jay Hulme (JayHulmePoet), 2022-06-07 (additional interpretations in replies)

-- Thomas Homer-Dixon,

"By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence. By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship.

"We mustn't dismiss these possibilities just because they seem ludicrous or too horrible to imagine. In 2014, the suggestion that Donald Trump would become president would also have struck nearly everyone as absurd. But today we live in a world where the absurd regularly becomes real and the horrible commonplace.

"Leading American academics are now actively addressing the prospect of a fatal weakening of U.S. democracy.

[...]

"Democracy is an institution, but underpinning that institution is a vital set of beliefs and values. If a substantial enough fraction of a population no longer holds those beliefs and values, then democracy can't survive. Probably the most important is recognition of the equality of the polity's citizens in deciding its future; a close runner up is willingness to concede power to one's political opponents, should those equal citizens decide that's what they want. At the heart of the ideological narrative of U.S. right-wing demagogues, from Mr. Trump on down, is the implication that large segments of the country's population - mainly the non-white, non-Christian, and educated urban ones - aren't really equal citizens. They aren't quite full Americans, or even real Americans."

"Pushing a stroller through the city will radicalize you." -- Tom Flood (tomflood1), 2022-06-08

"Flag Day was first celebrated in 1877. U.S. flags became common in Northern public schools in the 1890s, and John Philip Sousa composed 'The Stars and Stripes Forever' in 1896. During the Spanish-American War, Americans began to stand up during the national anthem.Flag code came much later

"During World War I bands started to play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at baseball games. It was not until 1923 that a national conference approved a code of flag etiquette, and not until World War II that the code was made into federal law.

"So despite the legend of Betsy Ross (which was not published until 1870), the Stars and Stripes were not considered holy when the nation was founded. Flag worship is a modern invention."

-- James Hijiya, "Flag idolatry reflects a national religion" 1997-06-26, updated 2011-01-10

"Anti gay theology leads to the pulse night club shooting. It leads to the white supremacists trying to do violence at a pride yesterday. I don't care if you condemn those actions, that's still where your theology leads. Theologies that lead to death are not from God." -- Jeff The Rainbow Mage (RevJeffArt), 2022-06-12

"These are things that I'm thinking about this week - That while the mitzvot are important, we have a whole book that exists only to teach the importance of being kind. That when we take responsibility for our part, that's when God steps in to do God's part. Not before." -- Ploni Almoni (JustSayXtian), 2022-06-06, after quoting two passages from Ruth Rabbah (6th century midrash on the book of Ruth (did I get that right?))

"Commonly switched words:

"There/their/they're
 Reign/rein/rain
 Toe/tow
 Air/heir
 Price gouging/inflation"   
-- Tea Berry-Blue (teaberryblue), 2022-06-07

"Attack politics, divisive politics, negative, stirring up of hate and fear and differences -- the dirty secret is they work. Even back in 2015 -- they work to get you elected, you can do that, you can mobilize [unintelligible] It's just, what we're seeing is that once you've used those methods to get elected, it becomes incredibly hard to govern responsibly for all citizens, in bringing people together, in getting big things done. Because once you start churning up anger it just feeds on itself, and if you're not continualy throwing fresh raw meat at it, it will get away from you entirely. And that's where we're seeing in Canada, a certain number of people who stirred up that, starting to have it turn back against them a little bit." -- Justin Trudeau, on Pod Save the World, 2022-06-08 (at about 1:05:08 to 1:06:03 in the podcast, 0:12:10 to 0:13:04 in the video, which has the segments in a different order)

"Appeasers believe that if you keep on throwing steaks to a tiger, the tiger will become a vegetarian." -- Heywood Broun

[I think this applies to assimilationist LTBGQ people as well -- "If we just Look Normal enough ..." is not a winning long-term strategy.]

"A very interesting fact I didn't know two minutes ago
'Jacksonville, Florida, the largest GOP-run city in the country'"
 -- Zach Williams (ZachReports). 2022-06-06

"Another fact most people probably don't know about Jacksonville is that it has twice the murder rate of San Francisco. And yet no one ever says its crime proves conservatives allow too much crime" -- Ben Adler (badler), 2022-06-06

"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first." -- attributed to Charles de Gaulle (b. 1890-11-22, d. 1970-11-09, President of France 1959-1969)

"State after state has looked at the difference that access to medical transition makes to suicide rates and decided that suicide is preferable. THINK ABOUT THAT. Really, really think about it, and what it means to be trans in a country where lawmakers believe that." -- Jay Edidin (NotLasers), 2022-06-04

[...]

"Christian Shavuot sometimes coincides with Shavuot, but it doesn't commemorate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

"Christians don't have any custom of celebrating the giving of the Torah, though this story is also in the Christian Tanach, what they call the 'Testament.'

[...]

"Christians believe that the strong wind and flames from the story represent the Ruach Ha'Kadosh, which inspired the followers of Yeshu to promote their beliefs to others.

"Christians today understand this story as the symbolic beginning of their religion, the 'birthday of the church.' In this case the word 'church' does not mean 'Christian shul' as it usually does, but something more like 'kehilla' or 'Christian klal.'"

[...]

-- Jew Who Has It All (JewWhoHasItAll), 2022-06-03 (link goes to start of thread)

[Jew Who Has It All is a satire account, shining a light on the Christian-normativity of the US (even our atheists and apathists tend to see culture through a sort of Christian lens regarding what is ordinary and what is exotic), by portraying life in a version of the US where Jewish tradition is the default framing and most common belief, and Christians are a minority. Often this takes the form of "misunderstanding" -- or just describing very clumsily -- Christian holidays, beliefs, and practices, in ways that resemble how Christians without enough Jewish friends often get Judaism wrong in our own reality. (The long explanation of Christmas is a delightful example of this.) And sometimes it's simply a matter of describing things pretty well but through a "translating for a Jewish mainstream" filter. (The explanation of Pentecost, for example.) Plus there's a lot that quite simply celebrates Jewish things as "Everybody does this, right?" She's careful to not mock Christian beliefs themselves, only (a) ways non-Jews often get things confused or explain them very clumsily, and (b) how Christianity is normalized in American culture, with Christian holidays catered to by default but everyone else's holidays often being treated as special accomodations. The entire feed is a treasure. Another account, Jewsplainer (JWhoKnowsItAll), provides context and translations for folks who need them.]

[Anyhow, joy and blessings to everyone celebrating either Pentecost (since they coincide this year), be it Shavuot or Whitsunday!]

A pre-holiday exchange, 2022-06-03:

jewitches (thejewitches):

Up next: the all-nighter-sleepover-torah studying-cheesecake eating-holiday

"what do you mean you have a holiday dedicated to eating dairy and studying"

Elaine Avivi (elaineavivi):

it's truly a sleeper holiday, which is ironic, considering...

[Chag sameach to everyone celebrating Shavuot starting this evening!]

"Don't ask me who's influenced me. A lion is made up of the lambs he's digested, and I've been reading all my life." -- Γιωργος Σεφερης aka Giorgos Seferis (b. 1900-03-13, d. 1971-09-20), Greek poet and diplomat, quoted in "Greek poet's odyssey", LIFE Magazine, Vol. 56, No. 3, 1964-01-17

"'We ran up there. The cops were telling us to stay away but we wanted to see if we could help anyone,' said Borders. 'We're not going to wait. You know how long cops and ambulances take. If we could save someone, that's what we were trying to do.'

"They found family members underneath pieces of their destroyed home.

"Borders said they found the mother, who was saying, 'Where's my kids? Where's my kids?'

"'She was completely covered, we were throwing the wood and bricks off of her, but we couldn't get to the bottom of her,' Borders said. 'We found one of the kids but we couldn't get to him ... I wish I could've done more.'

"Borders said then the police told them to get away from the scene."

"Chronic illness in five lines"

-- Nia | The Chronic Notebook (chronicnotebook), 2022-05-29

From "COVID-19 immunity plays a part in false negative testing, CDC says" by Genevieve Reaume, 2022-05-26 (about RAT but not PCR):

It turns out, according to the CDC, that people's immunity, either natural via infection or from the vaccines, is playing a part. Loeffler says what's happening is your immune system is doing exactly what it's expected to do, keeping the case mild. You may still have symptoms, but not enough of what's needed for the test to catch COVID early on.

"Their antibodies and their white blood cells are fighting that virus, and even though it's present enough to make you sick, it's not present enough that it's making enough of the protein that's detected in your nose to make the test positive," Loeffler said.

This means, if you have prior immunity, the CDC says you are more likely to get a false negative on a rapid test, especially in the early days of the illness. This is yet another reason why Loeffler says it's important to stay home if you're sick.

"You're most contagious just before your symptoms start and then those couple, three days after your symptoms start," Loeffler said. "For those several days of your first bit of the illness, even if your test is negative, please just stay home."