What happened to Bishop Barron? Part 2: The MAGAfication of a US bishop
[LONGREAD: What’s the biggest threat to U.S. democracy today? Would you believe … Marxism?!]
I didn’t expect Part 2 to take 3 weeks to finish, but this type of writing is dense and time-consuming, requiring both significant research and effort in organization and structuring the content! Very grateful for the support of readers new and old, and especially paying subscribers new and old!
12.03.2026 12:33
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Reminder to you all.
09.03.2026 15:25
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This essay highlights what I love about FARGO: It’s about how much more we want to spend time with Marge—and her husband—than with the idiot dirtbags that other movies find fascinating. It’s about how, contra most movies, ordinary decency is more compelling than amorality, which is actually boring.
08.03.2026 19:17
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It’s a very generic phrase, Matt, but for me Renner’s reading defines the line!
08.03.2026 18:29
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Most frequently used movie quote?
"Nobody tells me anything," from State & Main. Except only like 10 people in the world have seen State & Main so it usually gets a confused reaction of, "...But I'm telling you now?"
07.03.2026 20:49
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Most frequently used movie quote?
07.03.2026 17:26
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Around here it’s “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?!” (Courtesy of Vezzini)
07.03.2026 17:55
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I often say "Enhance your calm, John Spartan" to our anxious dog, who is not named John Spartan.
07.03.2026 17:21
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Most frequently used movie quote?
Mine’s super boring: In M:I – Ghost Protocol, Brandt is worried about the tech in Mumbai, and Benji says, “I’d be more worried about the heat!” And Brandt’s like, “And then there’s that…” I say that all the time when a new issue comes up. “And then there’s that…”
07.03.2026 17:03
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(didn’t?)
07.03.2026 12:43
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THIS *IS* HIS LANE
07.03.2026 02:41
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That’s a very good point.
06.03.2026 23:13
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That said, tonal questions aside, I think she’s more concerned about the “tradwife industrial complex” and the unstable character of the fanbase than about Stock’s own sins. And she has a point that Stock’s ambiguous half-denial, half-apology seems to point to more than drugged rape.
06.03.2026 22:57
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I appreciate your concern. You may have a point. Kristin clearly indicates that she doesn’t know whether or not the abortion happened, but she does seem to accept the six-month time frame as a given… 1/
06.03.2026 22:55
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I was in the opposite position: I was aware of her fall from grace in tradwife culture before I knew what Jubilee was!
06.03.2026 20:31
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right??
06.03.2026 20:06
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barely satire
06.03.2026 19:28
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The Trad Hoe’s Dilemma
The Spectacular Collapse of Sarah Stock, the Right’s Favorite Virgin Bride
“To understand what happened to Sarah Stock—and to the legions of credulous men who thought they’d found their queen—you have to understand the tradwife industrial complex, that peculiar corner of the internet where women make six figures telling other women not to have careers.”
— Kristin McTiernan
06.03.2026 19:27
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Saint Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago went to meet Sister Death as a man at peace, intercede for us before the Lord.
You recognized true peace in the Crucifix of San Damiano, teach us to seek in him the source of all reconciliation that breaks down every wall.
You who, unarmed, crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding, give us the courage to build bridges where the world raises up boundaries.
In this time afflicted by conflict and division, intercede for us so that we may become peacemakers: unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ.
Amen.
Pope Leo XIV’s prayer for peace to St. Francis of Assisi (composed for the 800th anniversary of his death; text in alt text)
06.03.2026 18:08
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Already our ruling shitposters have sunk even lower
06.03.2026 17:22
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okay now it’s showing up in other outlets
06.03.2026 17:20
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oddly, it looks like so far this has only been reported by Fox News Nebraska
06.03.2026 16:15
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we are governed by psychopathic shitposting children
06.03.2026 14:44
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I too have never been more disgusted to be an American, but bombing an elementary school is hardly an unprecedented atrocity for us. The 2017 Mosul airstrike caused hundreds of civilian deaths and buried entire families. There was also the 2019 Syrian airstrike that killed 64 civilians.
06.03.2026 13:50
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From a Time magazine interview:
Asked if Americans should worry about Iran retaliating against Americans on U.S. soil, President Donald Trump responded, “I guess.”
Trump couldn't care less about Americans. To him, we are and always have been no-names, extras, the cost of doing business. He won't lose a minute of sleep over an American life, or over a thousand of them.
06.03.2026 01:50
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OOHHH YES this I remember! My memories are from Charles Ferguson’s 2007 documentary NO END IN SIGHT, which took an eye-opening look at the poor planning and ill-informed decisions in the occupation and rebuilding efforts.
06.03.2026 02:27
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“Would you imagine what a world without wars would be like?
“A world without the terror of approaching explosions, without rocket alarms shattering the silence of the night?
“Please join me this month in prayer for disarmament and peace. Let's pray and share with others.” — Pope Leo XIV
06.03.2026 00:56
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Great, ICE still absolutely must be abolished.
05.03.2026 18:59
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