St. John the Philosopher @johnphilosopher

Happy Birthday America! A republic, if you can keep it.

@robbystarbuck The only tax I’m even mildly ok with is consumption. At the other end of the spectrum is property taxes, which are the most morally bankrupt.

You’re born looking like your parents. But you die looking like your choices. #ThursdayThoughts

@RangeBrad @BlueBoxDave Yes

I hear statements like this all the time: "Why when Jesus talks about feeding the poor, it’s christianity. But when a politician talks about feeding the poor, it’s socialism?" This is one of those ideas that sounds profound until you examine it for longer than the lifespan of a fruit fly. Take the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37). A traveler gets robbed and left for dead. A Samaritan comes along and: Bandages the mans wounds. Puts him on his own animal. Takes him to an inn. Pays his own money for the man's care. Then Jesus says, "Go and do likewise." At no point does the Samaritan stop and say, "Hold on while I petition the Roman provincial government to establish the Department of Fallen Travelers." Notice the subject of that sentence. It isnt Caesar. It isn't the Sanhedrin. It isn't the Ministry of Compassionate Transportation. It's YOU. This theme shows up repeatedly. Jesus tells individuals to be generous, to care for the poor, to lend expecting nothing in return, to give secretly, to serve one another, to sell possessions and give to those in need. (Luke 12:33, Luke 3:10–14, Luke 6:35–36, Matthew 5:16, Matthew 6:1–4, John 13:12–17.) If you actually study the Bible, and not use it as a pithy collection of sayings, you learn that Jesus made it very clear that public service to those in need is part of your worship of God and him. It's necessary in order to be a christian. Outsourcing it to government is not good enough. Christian charity is fundamentally a moral obligation placed on the believer. I can't outsource the giving and service required of me to the Government any more than I could outsource prayer or belief. If a politician wants to talk about feeding the poor, he's a good Christian if he's doing it himself, with his own money. That's it. (He should also be doing it quietly as Matthew 6:1 says, but that's a different rant.) If your definition of socialism is simply "helping poor people" then congratulations: your childish understanding of politics almost eclipses your childish understanding of Christianity.

Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa

a week ago

Why when Jesus talks about feeding the poor, it’s christianity. But when a politician talks about feeding the poor, it’s socialism?

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@caseycody100 @legendaryBL You proved my point and don’t even realize it.

@caseycody100 @legendaryBL Evil Fiance. Nice. A lawyer could set up a Trust to do exactly what she’s doing but without her having to be directly involved with those people’s lives. I wasn’t talking about the money in my previous posts. They’re separate issues. Are you tracking what I’m getting at?

@caseycody100 @legendaryBL She’s not his woman anymore.

They say “America has no culture” and what they mean is that the Constitution and Bill of Rights, English common law, the language itself, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July, the nuclear family, the work ethic, rock n roll, country, plus every innovation that turned this place into the world’s superpower don’t count as real culture. It’s just “whiteness,” this blank or oppressive thing that exists only to be critiqued and replaced. And this line has become so dominant, so institutionalized in schools, media, HR departments, and elite culture that it’s now the standard water everybody swims in. Most people don’t even clock it anymore because it’s treated like obvious truth instead of the radical self-erasure project it actually is. But this isn’t a good faith argument at all, and it carries clear ulterior motives to justify the erasure of America’s historic core and the people who built it. Because once you get Americans to accept that their culture is either nonexistent or evil, then mass demographic change, open borders, and tearing down the old traditions suddenly look like moral progress instead of an existential attack on everything that made the country function in the first place. The reality though is that America has one of the strongest and most distinctive cultures on earth, forged from Western and Christian roots and supercharged by liberty and merit. And the World Cup visitors are reminding us of exactly that right now. Germans are going viral saying if you want to hate America watch the news but drive through it and meet the actual people. Europeans are shocked by how genuinely warm, friendly, and generous Americans are in real life and can’t stop talking about the hospitality and customer service. Japanese fans are writing poetry about unlimited free chips and salsa, while others are losing it over Texas brisket, ranch dressing on everything, Waffle House at 2 am, Buc-ee’s, the ridiculous size of Walmart, and free drink refills that never end. These outsiders are cutting straight through the institutionalized narrative and showing us what we’ve been gaslit into taking for granted, and that is an abundant, open, high trust, high energy culture that actually works. Americans built it, they live it every day, and they are not apologizing for it or handing it over.

St Louis, you’re stuck with me a little longer. This week, I signed a new contract to keep going at @NewstalkSTL. Thank you to everyone who listens and watches every morning (whether you agree or disagree with me), to the station’s ownership, and a BIG thank you to our advertising partners who keep these local conversations on the air every day. And, of course, a big thanks to @SmoosieQ & @ProducerJerome who put up with me in the studio every morning (sometimes before I’ve had coffee). And also to @johnphilosopher who was a crucial part of building the show for the first four years we were on the air. At a time when corporate ownership is decimating local media, NewsTalk is old school: a local stand-alone business that is invested in St Louis.

That Qatari money must GOOD!

Defiant L’s @DefiantLs

2 weeks ago

Tucker Carlson says he changed his mind on Islam, “There were many lies about 9/11, but the net result was to convince Americans that they were under siege from global Islam… Nothing about that is true, but I believed it.”

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@ZubyMusic The education bubble is bursting in slow motion as young folks with useless degrees flood the job market. Curious what it will look like when it finally collapses.

There are over 1,500 different majors that you can study at university. About 5% are useful.

The World Cup has transformed the United States into the world’s most overwhelming Discovery Channel special. And the visitors are not coping. In the absolute best way possible. Here’s what they’re uncovering: Public restrooms you can actually use without paying. Water that shows up at the table for free. Unlimited refills on coffee, soda, and sweet tea. Chips and salsa arriving before you even ask. Warm bread served with dinner, no extra charge. Ice in every drink like it’s a basic human right. Air conditioning that’s standard everywhere—not a climate crime. Parking right next to the building you’re visiting. Drive-thrus that deliver food straight to your car. Ranch dressing available by the jug. Tex-Mex that defies description and demands to be experienced. Dentists who actually fix things. And Buc-ee’s… which simply breaks language. Then they discovered American grocery stores. Five colossal ones within a single mile, each the size of an airplane hangar. A single refrigerated aisle offering every cut of beef, pork, lamb, veal, and poultry known to humanity—at 10 a.m. on a random Tuesday. The Germans stood motionless in the meat section for nearly an hour. Silent. Rebooting. Suddenly, the lack of passenger trains makes perfect sense. Why bother with trains when the roads are wide enough for the vehicles we actually drive, parking lots stretch like small nations, and decent airports dot every city worth going to? The Germans are now smuggling ranch dressing home by the bottle. The Dutch tasted queso and temporarily forgot how to form sentences. The Japanese are documenting H-E-B like it’s the Sistine Chapel. The Czechs have been spotted openly weeping with joy in West, Texas. Welcome to America. 🇺🇸 The greatest country on Earth.

My favorite new internet thing is watching foreign visitors for the World Cup go nuts about free bread at restaurants.

Am I going to have to watch this game? instagram.com/reel/DZst-WNRD…

😂😂😂 instagram.com/reel/DZppNNJtq…

You might not be able to change the culture very much, but can you prevent the culture from changing you? Yeah, you can do that. You can ensure that you line up with Jesus rather than the culture.

My thoughts after 3 months in the US/Texas🇺🇸: - Americans are way more extroverted than Europeans - Talking to strangers is normal here - My first H-E-B trip felt like Boris Yeltsin seeing an American grocery store - Some food is more artificial, but the amount of choices is insane - You can still eat healthy. You just have to choose it - High risk, high reward is real - Way more people are entrepreneurial - People dream bigger than in Europe, and they actually execute - Obv not everyone is smarter, but the smart people are world-class - Successful people here are way more down-to-earth. In Europe, successful people care about status and can be arrogant - Cars. Enough said - Americans have perfected artificial sweets - There’s still more freedom here than in Europe - One thing I didn’t expect: some Americans talk down on America - As an outsider, that’s weird, because imo it’s still the greatest country on Earth🇺🇸🇺🇸