{"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":206,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"Roger Wm. Bennett","url":"http://intellectualoid.com","avatar":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/avatar.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"88547367","content_html":"

@JohnBrady That concrete example is worth ten thousand words of theory.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88547367","date_published":"2026-04-19T00:58:43+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":"00:58","date_timestamp":1776560323,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88520956","content_html":"

@JimRain I note that retired lawyer isn’t in your profile. It’s in mine mostly as a signal that if I write stupid things, they’re at least likely to be interestingly stupid.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/88520956","date_published":"2026-04-18T15:20:10+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":"2026-04-18 15:20","date_timestamp":1776525610,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88513146","content_html":"

Virginia’s Unconstitutional Effort to Strip Property Tax Exemptions From Pro-Confederate Groups.

\n\n

I concur in this opinion.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/18/virginias-unconstitutional-effort-to-strip.html","date_published":"2026-04-18T13:02:41+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":"2026-04-18 13:02","date_timestamp":1776517361,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88512828","content_html":"
\n

You’re the most successfully retired lawyer I know. A lot of lawyers struggle with retirement.

\n
\n\n

I had lunch yesterday with the younger lawyer I trained in the arcana of my practice niche so I could retire without the firm losing those clients.

\n\n

She made that interesting comment.

\n\n

Insofar as I’ve retired more successfully than others, it may be because I always saw law as a pleasant livelihood, not as an identity.

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29% of Americans think Trump is somewhat religious or very religious..

\n\n

29% of Americans are not very ightbray (Pig Latin used so they won’t understand and show up at my door with torches.)

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@isaacgreene @dwalbert The most vital part is the implied challenge to humans to stop acting like machines.

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@dwalbert Well, let me congratulate you on coining that before Sacasas did, even if you didn’t get it in print.

\n

I have often had unwritten thoughts that somebody wrote before me, sparing me the effort, but I can’t think of one where I had coined a catchy phrase for it.

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@dwalbert I agree that was a central thought in his post, but people should treat themselves to the whole challenging piece.

\n

If there was a summary, it would be this:

\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.

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The coin drops: I shouldn’t waste time on Why People Hate Lena Dunham - Freddie deBoer because I don’t know who Lena Dunham is (other than a hate-object) and have no felt need to find out.

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@thedimpause Duh. I didn’t even notice it wasn’t plain old Laphroaig, of which I have consumed exactly one bottle.

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@joshuapsteele Yup

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@thedimpause Distinctive, yes. Fantastic? Well, people more discerning than I think so …

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I regret to inform you that this administration is a bunch of barbarians engaged in systematic mass vandalism. Josef Palermo, What I Saw Inside the Kennedy Center - The Atlantic.

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\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
\n\n

L.M. Sacasas, AI as Christian Heresy

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/17/build-a-technosocial-system-which.html","date_published":"2026-04-17T18:23:12+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":"2026-04-17 18:23","date_timestamp":1776450192,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88461319","content_html":"

I’m not finished reading it yet, but I’m confident that I should recommend it to thoughtful people: L.M. Sacasas, AI as Christian Heresy - Comment Magazine.

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My wife confirms that I’m not retconning when I say I’ve thought of Trump as antichrist for years. Glad the world is catching up, at least until … Hey! A squirrel!

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/17/my-wife-confirms-that-im.html","date_published":"2026-04-17T13:13:29+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":"2026-04-17 13:13","date_timestamp":1776431609,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88442440","content_html":"

I started the day with mere news summaries and haven’t yet gotten around to full news stories and commentary. Following rabbit trails instead.

\n\n

It feels kind of human, actually.

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@miljko Words cannot express how much I love this. I also learned what “boxty” is.

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@tinyroofnail Chermerinsky speaks softly, without notes, with citations and dates of cases. Topic was focused on free speech (why is it unpopular? It’s always unpopular for speech we don’t like) and how to protect it. He had to clear out immediately afterward (~5:35) because he has a talk in Seattle at 9 am Friday.

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Leaving momentarily for a surprise last-minute opportunity to hear Dean Erwin Chermerinsky on free speech and then to dine at Wabash College.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/16/leaving-momentarily-for-a-surprise.html","date_published":"2026-04-16T19:14:22+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":"2026-04-16 19:14","date_timestamp":1776366862,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88307303","content_html":"

@ayjay Thank you for this.

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I’ve only watched two Malick films. The gripping story of A Hidden Life held my attention. The other (To the Wonder, I think) left me baffled.

\n

You may have given me the key to going back and enjoying all that this reclusive icon has given us.

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\n

One of the most arcane rituals surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022, and one of the most affecting in its homeliness — affecting enough that I’m still thinking about it, almost four years later — was the royal beekeeper’s visit to the royal bees, to tell them of their mistress’s passing …

\n
\n\n

Today’s Poem: Telling the Bees

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/15/one-of-the-most-arcane.html","date_published":"2026-04-15T14:20:13+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":"2026-04-15 14:20","date_timestamp":1776262813,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88302611","content_html":"
\n

Unfortunately, reason on its own will lead you astray very, very quickly …

\n\n

People detect from what I wrote in The Master and His Emissary that I am not a huge admirer of the [left-hemisphere inspired] Reformation … Unfortunately, it brought with it a kind of headstrong view that ‘now we’re in the clear. Everything must be made explicit. The word triumphs over the image’ and so on. …

\n\n

The trouble with the left hemisphere is … it tends to be headstrong. It tends to think it knows far more than it does.

\n
\n\n

Iain McGilchrist

\n\n

I hadn’t thought of Protestantism that way before.

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@dwalbert I stopped pledging allegiance and singing the national anthem all the way back in my Protestant days for substantially the reasons you mention. I haven’t felt any need to resume them in the meantime.

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@JohnBrady There’s a difference, isn’t there, between an antichrist and The Antichrist? It may be a little premature to apply the latter, but ….

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@ayjay Amen! Amen! Amen!

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It’s “Bright Week,” a no-fasting week after Orthodox Easter. But I only wanted a little breakfast, and don’t want to pork up (as has been known to happen). So it’s back to PB&J on a Wasa cracker, just like Lent. It almost felt like I was cheating.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/13/its-bright-week-a-nofasting.html","date_published":"2026-04-13T13:09:27+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":"2026-04-13 13:09","date_timestamp":1776085767,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88101714","content_html":"

@ellane I guess your spelling of bo - we is closer. I hadn’t seen that when I replied. It certainly could be confused with boy, but nothing short of bewee avoids that.

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@ellane Bo - ee. Less elided than boy.

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Long day ahead. Liturgy in an hour (with Let All Moral Flesh Keep Silence). Then 5 baptisms and 3 Chrismations (we’re concentrating more of them on Great & Holy Saturday instead of “whenever catechesis is complete.”) Then Vigil overnight.

\n\n

My voice has held up so far.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/11/long-day-ahead-liturgy-in.html","date_published":"2026-04-11T12:01:00+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":"2026-04-11 12:01","date_timestamp":1775908860,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88037232","content_html":"
\n

We sing that Christ is “…trampling down death by death” in the troparion of Easter. This phrase gives great meaning to Holy Saturday. Christ’s repose in the tomb is an “active” repose. He comes in search of His fallen friend, Adam, who represents all men. Not finding him on earth, he descends to the realm of death, known as Hades in the Old Testament. There He finds him and brings him life once again. This is the victory: the dead are given life. The tomb is no longer a forsaken, lifeless place. By His death Christ tramples down death by death.

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\n\n

Great and Holy Saturday (OCA)

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/11/we-sing-that-christ-is.html","date_published":"2026-04-11T09:11:08+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":"2026-04-11 09:11","date_timestamp":1775898668,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87992669","content_html":"
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I believe that Christians make a serious mistake when we begin to speak first about God rather than first about Christ and His death on the Cross and resurrection from the dead. It is a mistake because it presumes we know something about God that is somehow “prior” to those events. We do not, or, if we think we do, we are mistaken. The death and resurrection of Christ are the alpha and the omega of God’s self-revelation to the world. Nothing in all of creation is extraneous or irrelevant to those events.

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\n\n

Fr. Stephen Freeman

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/10/i-believe-that-christians-make.html","date_published":"2026-04-10T17:12:07+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":"2026-04-10 17:12","date_timestamp":1775841127,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87983102","content_html":"

The 15th Antiphon from the Matins for Great and Holy Friday, in the version I sing.

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I had no idea that my friend Bethany had a YouTube channel, or that she recorded this, more beautifully than I could. I think our Cantor duties are safe when I “buy the farm” or otherwise can’t carry on singing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/10/the-th-antiphon-from-the.html","date_published":"2026-04-10T14:31:33+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":"2026-04-10 14:31","date_timestamp":1775831493,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87920940","content_html":"

@mwerickson Once I had the characters sorted out in my head, I really found the story pretty compelling. That’s probably a weird thing to say, but that’s how I encountered it. 

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87920940","date_published":"2026-04-09T16:47:15+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":"2026-04-09 16:47","date_timestamp":1775753235,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87899078","content_html":"

Datapoint: In 2025, birthrates for women in their late 30s exceeded those for women in their early 20s for the first time.

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(John Ellis News Items)

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/09/datapoint-in-birthrates-for-women.html","date_published":"2026-04-09T10:19:45+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":"2026-04-09 10:19","date_timestamp":1775729985,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87897309","content_html":"

Finished George Eliot, Middlemarch. 📚Looking forward to a Plough article on “The Moral Beauty of Middlemarch.”

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/09/finished-george-eliot-middlemarch-looking.html","date_published":"2026-04-09T09:40:30+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":"2026-04-09 09:40","date_timestamp":1775727630,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87897030","content_html":"

@bbowman I’m not familiar with that but it sounds cognate to Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity, an Orthodox book drawing on holy physicians of the soul in ancient Christian Traditions.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87897030","date_published":"2026-04-09T09:34:37+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":"2026-04-09 09:34","date_timestamp":1775727277,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87896848","content_html":"

@jabel Attracting birds was the entire purpose of our serviceberry smack-dab in front of the kitchen sink window.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87896848","date_published":"2026-04-09T09:27:22+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":"2026-04-09 09:27","date_timestamp":1775726842,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87828527","content_html":"

@miljko The way “Independent Christian” said it is revealing of something, though I’m not sure what: “… I am actually ashamed of my vote for Trump at this point ….” (italics added)

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Has this person never felt shame before? Was he/she proud of the vote previously?

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87828527","date_published":"2026-04-08T10:06:09+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":"2026-04-08 10:06","date_timestamp":1775642769,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87826803","content_html":"

@Miraz I don’t recall ever seeing a rotating storm pattern coded in orange. Looks ominous.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87826803","date_published":"2026-04-08T09:27:14+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":"2026-04-08 09:27","date_timestamp":1775640434,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87783743","content_html":"

@marmanold I started years ago and didn’t finish. This might be good for Bright Week.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87783743","date_published":"2026-04-07T18:04:46+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":"2026-04-07 18:04","date_timestamp":1775585086,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87755108","content_html":"

A small consolation: Be it noted that the NCAA Men’s Tournament Champion was defeated by Purdue in the Big 10 Tournament Championship.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/07/a-small-consolation-be-it.html","date_published":"2026-04-07T10:19:12+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":"2026-04-07 10:19","date_timestamp":1775557152,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87707045","content_html":"
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A pressing question is whether there is some reform achievable with bipartisan support that could help protect against the “new normal” of a department that answers reliably to a president’s personal and political demands. There may be—if one accepts that, even if it can accomplish only so much, modest reform is better than none at all.

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\n\n

Bob Bauer, DOJ’s Bleak Future and Modest Paths for Reform.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/06/a-pressing-question-is-whether.html","date_published":"2026-04-06T16:31:34+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":"2026-04-06 16:31","date_timestamp":1775493094,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87706101","content_html":"

@ayjay I don’t use Instapaper much any more (I’m saving things in Markdown), but I do set articles aside for later and am very well acquainted with “Why did I think I wanted to read that?”

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(Sometimes, it’s just priorities: when I feel I’ve been reading too long, the bar for “keepers” gets raised.)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87706101","date_published":"2026-04-06T16:21:53+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":"2026-04-06 16:21","date_timestamp":1775492513,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87664959","content_html":"

@jabel I assume they took it as it was intended.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87664959","date_published":"2026-04-05T23:15:17+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":"2026-04-05 23:15","date_timestamp":1775430917,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87664941","content_html":"

@JohnBrady he had earlier sent an Easter greeting, obviously written by somebody who wasn’t illiterate 

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/87664941","date_published":"2026-04-05T23:14:38+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":"2026-04-05 23:14","date_timestamp":1775430878,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87657837","content_html":"

Our President greeted Easter at 8:03 am, on his bespoke X alternative, with an obscene tirade against Iran. (See here, for instance), closing with “Praise be to Allah.”

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What will it take for him to lose his putatively Christian supporters?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/05/our-president-greeted-easter-at.html","date_published":"2026-04-05T19:10:34+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":"2026-04-05 19:10","date_timestamp":1775416234,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87474833","content_html":"

Anil Dash, Endgame for the Open Web.

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It had not occurred to me that asking AI a simple question, without demanding its sources, not only exposed me to untraceable hallucinations but made me complicit in theft of intellectual property.

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Did everyone but me know this?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/02/anil-dash-endgame-for-the.html","date_published":"2026-04-02T16:13:17+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":"2026-04-02 16:13","date_timestamp":1775146397,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87403858","content_html":"

Am I the only one for whom voice recognition on iPhone is suddenly garbage – so bad that it would be unintelligible to the recipient (my older brother, via Signal).

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/04/01/am-i-the-only-one.html","date_published":"2026-04-01T16:30:46+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":"2026-04-01 16:30","date_timestamp":1775061046,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"87348245","content_html":"
\n

Damon Linker, Trump as the Great Destroyer (shared link).

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\n\n

Linker’s piece is openly and most deeply indebted to another:

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\n

John B. Judis, Trump as Alexander the Great: A Theory That Explains Iran (And Everything Else)

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\n\n

Still digesting. I think it’s time to update the old curse, variously attributed: May you live in interesting times. The new version is *We’re living in epochal times. There’s no return to the old normal.” And that’s really hard to stomach.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/03/31/damon-linker-trump-as-the.html","date_published":"2026-03-31T21:08:37+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":"2026-03-31 21:08","date_timestamp":1774991317,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}