{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Micro.blog - Roger Wm. Bennett","home_page_url":"https://micro.blog","feed_url":"https://micro.blog/posts/ReaderJohn","_microblog":{"about":"https://micro.blog/about/api","id":"10256","username":"ReaderJohn","bio":"Retired lawyer, homo adorans (as an Orthodox Christian).\nFor better or worse, autodidact in much of what really matters in life (despite ample formal schooling).\nMy posts are pretty eclectic, but tend toward religion and cynicism about politics.","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":211,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/avatar.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"96048300","content_html":"

I don’t want to dwell on Jason Arday, but when Eugene Volokh finds something noteworthy about it, I’ve got to look: “The Cascade of Dysfunction That Helped Doom Jason Arday”.

\n\n

Neither Arday nor British press law look very good.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/19/i-dont-want-to-dwell.html","date_published":"2026-08-19T18:19:07+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-19 18:19","date_timestamp":1787163547,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"96036332","content_html":"

For someone who suffers badly from FOMO:

\n\n
    \n
  1. I was completely disinterested in Charlie Kirk before he was murdered (barely heard of him).
    2. \n
  2. Despite the encomiums about how he kept young conservatives from going totally out of their minds, I remain largely disinterested.
    3. \n
\n\n

(Thoughts upon seeing a CT piece)

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/19/for-someone-who-suffers-badly.html","date_published":"2026-08-19T14:27:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-19 14:27","date_timestamp":1787149657,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"96029912","content_html":"

Nine words I never imagined writing: Best of luck to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/19/nine-words-i-never-imagined.html","date_published":"2026-08-19T11:57:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-19 11:57","date_timestamp":1787140657,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95936234","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Here’s what Rod had to say:

\n

> Tomorrow I’m going to write about a great new book I listened to while driving. I think you’ll really like this one. It’s All That’s Unseen, an Appalachian memoir by Emilee Hackney. She was born in 1997, so is significantly younger that J.D. Vance. What I found most fascinating about her book is the way she was raised in hardcore Appalachian Pentecostalism, and its effects on her life and character arc. I’ll say more tomorrow.
\n>
\n> Interestingly enough, I’ve been in far northeast Tennessee this weekend, visiting Frederica Mathewes-Green, who is recovering from a recent hospitalization. Tazewell, Virginia, where Emilee Hackney grew up, is only about two hours’ drive from here, in coal country. Driving through the Appalachian mountain range, which ends in Birmingham, where I live, has been something new to me — the sheer beauty of America. But the pain and desperation in many of these mountain communities is equally vivid. We saw that in Hillbilly Elegy, and we see it again in this very different, but inevitably similar, memoir (Hackney gets a ticket to the Ivy League out of Appalachia).

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95936234","date_published":"2026-08-17T21:01:48+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-17 21:01","date_timestamp":1787000508,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95917308","content_html":"

@jabel Rod Dreher read and liked it too, promising to write about it tomorrow. Time to put it on my wish list, I guess, though it’s already longer than my remaining time on earth.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95917308","date_published":"2026-08-17T14:58:18+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-17 14:58","date_timestamp":1786978698,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95874427","content_html":"

I have a public wishlist and several private wishlists on Amazon. One of the private ones is “Political books I probably shouldn’t buy.” It gets, I think, 100% of the political books that are all buzzy, including Regime Change (which tempts me sorely).

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/16/i-have-a-public-wishlist.html","date_published":"2026-08-16T17:19:58+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 17:19","date_timestamp":1786900798,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95874230","content_html":"

The Danube recently measured 9 inches deep in Budapest.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/16/the-danube-recently-measured-inches.html","date_published":"2026-08-16T17:14:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 17:14","date_timestamp":1786900477,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95861242","content_html":"

@jabel @JohnBrady Oh, one more thing: I’ll have a cover over the casket, to prevent subsidence, but the wooden coffin will rest directly on earth. It’s not a full vault.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95861242","date_published":"2026-08-16T11:19:38+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 11:19","date_timestamp":1786879178,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95860800","content_html":"

@jabel I thought I’d like a green burial, but the local version of that, so far as I could learn in a reasonable time, was burying in a burlap sack in a weed patch at the edge of the cemetery with no substantial marker.

\n

That somehow seems like its own kind of exhibitionism.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95860800","date_published":"2026-08-16T11:04:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-16 11:04","date_timestamp":1786878269,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95828634","content_html":"

@JohnBrady But they felt so virtuous as they did it.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95828634","date_published":"2026-08-15T17:35:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 17:35","date_timestamp":1786815327,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95815891","content_html":"

@joshuapsteele Yes. We own a Generac fueled by natural gas and resting on a slab on a windowless wall. It powers the essentials in the home (and we have a gas stove so we don’t power resistance appliances). We ran close to 24 hours on it earlier this year, and yes, we’re glad of it.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95815891","date_published":"2026-08-15T12:44:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 12:44","date_timestamp":1786797841,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95815675","content_html":"

Today, I regret writing even this much, which was precious little in comparison to many commentators.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/15/today-i-regret-writing-even.html","date_published":"2026-08-15T12:38:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 12:38","date_timestamp":1786797536,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95787282","content_html":"

@JohnBrady I think mutatis mutandis was a Buckleyism. I admit that I had to look it up. But I’m afraid that I’ll forget it long before I have occasion to write the idea in the longer English form.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95787282","date_published":"2026-08-14T21:51:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 21:51","date_timestamp":1786744277,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95787155","content_html":"

@JohnBrady @isaacgreene I’ve already got sina qua non and ne plus ultra down pat. It’s the new kid on the block that’s firing me up.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95787155","date_published":"2026-08-14T21:46:18+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 21:46","date_timestamp":1786743978,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95761573","content_html":"

Ceteris paribus is another foreign phrase I should master so as to pretentious-up my writing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/14/ceteris-paribus-is-another-foreign.html","date_published":"2026-08-14T13:39:41+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 13:39","date_timestamp":1786714781,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95756841","content_html":"

@bradleyandroos Stealing this (with attribution)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95756841","date_published":"2026-08-14T11:53:47+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 11:53","date_timestamp":1786708427,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95756252","content_html":"

@jabel It is dying, my friend, for better and for worse.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95756252","date_published":"2026-08-14T11:38:48+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 11:38","date_timestamp":1786707528,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95756044","content_html":"

In the spirit of @isaacgreene , I share another intriguing website: Third Oikos.

\n

Think of it as The New Atlantis for the Wendell Berry set.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95756044","date_published":"2026-08-14T11:33:15+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 11:33","date_timestamp":1786707195,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95753972","content_html":"

@isaacgreene Thanks for the pointer. I scrolled over the portraits on the homepage, recognizing several, but only one who I would recognize and greet by nickname if we passed on the street.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95753972","date_published":"2026-08-14T10:33:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 10:33","date_timestamp":1786703623,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95733228","content_html":"

The Wabash is at the perfect level: 5 feet above flood stage.

\n\n

No muddy banks visible, low tree branches hanging into the water, but no flooded roads adjacent.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/13/the-wabash-is-at-the.html","date_published":"2026-08-14T00:42:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-14 00:42","date_timestamp":1786668172,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95700519","content_html":"

@canneddragons I haven’t watched Shogun or read the book. I’m likelier to read the book than watch the show. Somehow, I’m just not wired to watch a lot of movies or TV shows. I’ll look at the book, maybe put it on a wish list.

\n

That said, the RCC in Asia was particularly interesting in Reformations.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95700519","date_published":"2026-08-13T13:17:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-13 13:17","date_timestamp":1786627037,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95695275","content_html":"

@canneddragons With the broadest brush, I’m impressed at the missionary zeal of the Spanish and Portuguese Catholic Churches post-Reformation – albeit with the caveat that it was almost always tainted with political imperialism.

\n

Previously, the imperialism was virtually all I saw.

\n

The interplay between imperialists and missionaries was rather parallel to the Russian Orthodox Missionaries to Alaska ameliorating the predations of the Russian traders.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95695275","date_published":"2026-08-13T11:21:15+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-13 11:21","date_timestamp":1786620075,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95695073","content_html":"

It dawned on me last week that my adolescent grandchildren’s political awareness is pervasively stained by the current POTUS. They simply have no real memory of the beforetimes.

\n\n

I tried to give them a little perspective over dinner last Sunday. I wish I could reassure them about what follows.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/13/it-dawned-on-me-last.html","date_published":"2026-08-13T11:16:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-13 11:16","date_timestamp":1786619760,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95694010","content_html":"

Still reading Carlos Eire, Reformations 📚, but I’m past the midpoint.

\n\n

Suffice that my sense of Western Church history is changing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/13/still-reading-carlos-eire-reformations.html","date_published":"2026-08-13T10:46:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-13 10:46","date_timestamp":1786618012,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95693726","content_html":"

@apoorplayer Ouch!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95693726","date_published":"2026-08-13T10:34:57+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-13 10:34","date_timestamp":1786617297,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95590142","content_html":"

Not us, but near us: thunderstorms with winds up to 100 mph; caution not to drive North on I-65 due to driving rain, zero visibility.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/11/not-us-but-near-us.html","date_published":"2026-08-11T17:09:53+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-11 17:09","date_timestamp":1786468193,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95570329","content_html":"

My wife’s aging Church is trying to call a pastor from the Philippines. U.S. Immigration officials are demanding ever more proof that a 150-year-old church, in a substantial brick edifice for 100 years or so, is real.

\n\n

Welcome to the Trumposcene. They just might succeed in killing a Church.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/11/my-wifes-aging-church-is.html","date_published":"2026-08-11T11:22:31+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-11 11:22","date_timestamp":1786447351,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95538785","content_html":"

@davoh I omitted to mention that NRSV seems a solid for a religion professor. NIV just never floated my boat.

\n

IVP continued to influence me heavily into my late 20s, notably catapulting me to break with dispensational premillennialism (which I had held, but very lightly).

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95538785","date_published":"2026-08-10T20:25:51+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 20:25","date_timestamp":1786393551,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95538176","content_html":"

@davoh NASB?! Horrors! That was (early ’70s) the Bible of the Campus Crusade (now Cru) heretics!

\n

CCC once tried to recruit me, an IVCF guy, for staff. But Bill Bright had forbidden glossolalia and I, who had never spoken in tongues, found that obnoxious and even cultish.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95538176","date_published":"2026-08-10T20:13:33+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 20:13","date_timestamp":1786392813,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95532256","content_html":"

@jabel I’ve returned to the KJV for private Psalm reading. I just find KJV easier to memorize, and the constant mix of not-quite KJV to be death for memorization.

\n

@JohnBrady In IVCF in college, the New English Bible was de rigeur, and it had a version with so-called “Apocrypha.”

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95532256","date_published":"2026-08-10T18:05:38+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 18:05","date_timestamp":1786385138,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95532110","content_html":"

@dgreene196 @JohnBrady TWSBI? IYKYK. I dunno.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95532110","date_published":"2026-08-10T18:01:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 18:01","date_timestamp":1786384903,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95520555","content_html":"

@jabel I’m still trying to decide what to do with my late little brother’s Thompson Chain Reference. Throw it in the trash? Burn it? Library used book sale?

\n

I’m thinking of burying it, as I’ve buried Icons and a worn-out cassock.

\n

And then there’s his copy N.T. Wright’s book on Revelation. On the one hand, Wright is usually sane; on the other, it’s Revelation. Always Revelation. Again and again, let’s paw that over.

\n

Strange fact: Revelation is not appointed for liturgical reading in the Orthodox Church. I very much like that.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95520555","date_published":"2026-08-10T14:12:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 14:12","date_timestamp":1786371143,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95516133","content_html":"

I sometimes think there can be no case of FOMO worse than mine, but that can’t be. I’ve put two books on my wish list so far today, but one worse-afflicted than I might have bought them both.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/10/i-sometimes-think-there-can.html","date_published":"2026-08-10T12:47:18+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 12:47","date_timestamp":1786366038,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95506467","content_html":"

@eastbrad

\n

> Build a techno-social system which demands that humans act like machines and it turns out that machines can eventually be made to displace humans with relative ease.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95506467","date_published":"2026-08-10T09:26:49+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 09:26","date_timestamp":1786354009,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95506333","content_html":"

@daniel @cjhubbs Why did this thread have to stop so soon?

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95506333","date_published":"2026-08-10T09:22:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 09:22","date_timestamp":1786353724,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95506220","content_html":"

@jaheppler I read it within the last year or so. The title is just so intriguing to someone in my habitual frame of mind.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95506220","date_published":"2026-08-10T09:17:36+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-10 09:17","date_timestamp":1786353456,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95445445","content_html":"

Nagasaki plus 81 years

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/09/nagasaki-plus-years.html","date_published":"2026-08-09T11:23:24+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-09 11:23","date_timestamp":1786274604,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95445404","content_html":"
\n

“[Caveat omitted],” my friend said over breakfast after Mass.  He opened his alumni magazine to show me a short essay by the director of one of the core curriculum program at his alma mater …

\n\n

The author of the piece was writing about reading and teaching Inferno, the first canticle of Dante’s Comedy …

\n
\n\n

J Budziszewski

\n\n

Even I, who found Inferno a bit of a slog, know better than this.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/09/caveat-omitted-my-friend-said.html","date_published":"2026-08-09T11:21:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-09 11:21","date_timestamp":1786274487,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95444587","content_html":"

I thought maybe I should try National Review again. I won’t renew after trying.

\n\n

The signal-to-noise ratio is just too low, and if the signal’s good enough it gets discussed in other things I read.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/09/i-thought-maybe-i-should.html","date_published":"2026-08-09T10:54:06+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-09 10:54","date_timestamp":1786272846,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95419451","content_html":"

@ayjay One more “looking forward to it.”

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95419451","date_published":"2026-08-08T19:38:21+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-08 19:38","date_timestamp":1786217901,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95414736","content_html":"

We mostly stay home, and I’m getting tired of replacing batteries (those expensive flat things) on luggage AirTags that haven’t been out of the house in a year.

\n\n

Remove, re-label as “Travel 1,” “Travel 2” etc. Replace batteries and attach to luggage only when needed.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/08/we-mostly-stay-home-and.html","date_published":"2026-08-08T17:32:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-08 17:32","date_timestamp":1786210343,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95414543","content_html":"

I wish I’d thought of this first: The ‘Manosphere’ Isn’t a Movement. It’s a Multibillion-Dollar Grievance Industry (WIRED)

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/08/i-wish-id-thought-of.html","date_published":"2026-08-08T17:28:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-08 17:28","date_timestamp":1786210097,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95356358","content_html":"

@JohnBrady That’s because you and I remember as far back as 1968.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/95356358","date_published":"2026-08-07T15:26:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-07 15:26","date_timestamp":1786116389,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"95349935","content_html":"
\n

Happy Friday! A survey of 60 intelligence professionals from 25 countries has crowned MI6 Europe’s most powerful spy agency. We didn’t realize anyone was keeping score—and we’re not entirely sure how you’d verify it—but congratulations to everyone involved, whoever you are.

\n
\n\n

The Morning Dispatch

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/07/happy-friday-a-survey-of.html","date_published":"2026-08-07T13:24:59+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-07 13:24","date_timestamp":1786109099,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95347103","content_html":"

If Democratic Socialists keep winning Democrat primaries, the eagerly-anticipated flip of the House may not happen.

\n\n

Party primaries produce crackpot candidates in the general election. Bring back the smoke-filled rooms!

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/07/if-democratic-socialists-keep-winning.html","date_published":"2026-08-07T12:34:51+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-07 12:34","date_timestamp":1786106091,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95306170","content_html":"

Well, duh! I’m so rusty professionally that it took the Advisory Opinions podcast to remind me that Anthony Fauci was 100% justified in taking the fifth because the Biden pardon only covers federal crimes! Some 25 state attorneys general are posturing about prosecuting him, too, under state laws.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/06/well-duh-im-so-rusty.html","date_published":"2026-08-06T17:44:59+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-06 17:44","date_timestamp":1786038299,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95233575","content_html":"

Sacrilege: microblog.intellectualoid.com

","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/05/sacrilege.html","date_published":"2026-08-05T12:19:16+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-05 12:19","date_timestamp":1785932356,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95226949","content_html":"

Through the grapevine: A young woman of my acquaintance, mother of 5 girls and a boy, told them that she had a disease (breast cancer) and that the treatment probably would make her bald.

\n

The boy said “Cool!”

\n

Isn’t that the most Boy Thing ever?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/05/through-the-grapevine-a-young.html","date_published":"2026-08-05T10:29:35+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-05 10:29","date_timestamp":1785925775,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95196492","content_html":"
\n

In the last few days, you may have heard about Leopold Aschenbrenner—the wonder kid hedge fund manager who lost tens of billions over the course of a few days. It’s the biggest financial fiasco of the year.

\n

If you didn’t read about it in the news, don’t worry. Hollywood will certainly make it into a movie. This 25-year-old hot shot’s financial empire was literally collapsing while guests were showing up for his blowout wedding at a fake Tuscan villa in California. The screenplay practically writes itself.

\n
\n

Ted Gioia covers what I hadn’t seen before. This kid was an SBF wannabe.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/04/in-the-last-few-days.html","date_published":"2026-08-04T20:11:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-04 20:11","date_timestamp":1785874289,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95192895","content_html":"

It’s not fine furniture, but it’s very sturdy and puts a lot of books by my chair.

\n

\"\"

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/08/04/its-not-fine-furniture-but.html","date_published":"2026-08-04T17:51:07+00:00","author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Fmicro.blog%2FReaderJohn%2Favatar.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"ReaderJohn"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-04 17:51","date_timestamp":1785865867,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}