{"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":"91169956","content_html":"

I’m a boomer from the subset that, at age 77, can sit in front of the computer, catching up on paperwork and reading, with Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young) playing, fairly loud, but it’s background music to my ears. I know I can because that’s what I’m currently doing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/29/im-a-boomer-from-the.html","date_published":"2026-05-29T19:42:37+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":"19:42","date_timestamp":1780083757,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91152955","content_html":"

I will never presume to write another word about UFC on the White House Lawn, because I’ll never top Kevin D. Williamson.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/29/i-will-never-presume-to.html","date_published":"2026-05-29T15:39:41+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":"15:39","date_timestamp":1780069181,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91143293","content_html":"

My hard-working slacker grandson graduates HS Sunday. He turned off his alarm and went back to sleep this morning, and would have missed a job interview at Loews had my son not noticed. He wants to become an F1 mechanic.

\n

Peggy Noonan, Becoming Who You Are Ain’t for Sissies, was a balm for me.

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@joshuapsteele What @JohnBrady said. (But in the back of my mind, this caveat aphorism: Christ didn’t come to make bad men good but to make dead men live.)

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@isaacgreene If your locale was anything like Lafayette (home of Purdue) Indiana, he was probably an Italian with a name like, oh, Cassini.

\n

(I don’t know who does that quality of work locally now that Cassini is closed.)

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@JohnBrady Oh: I remember well as a newlywed developing a sudden appreciation for cabbage, and the joy we felt when box macaroni and cheese was on sale for $0.15 (usually $0.19, higher if you insisted on Kraft).

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@JohnBrady Grad students subsisting on Ramen Noodles was a veritable même a few years back.

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If I were worried about grocery bills (and I suspect that some on MB are worried), I would print and pore over How to Eat Well on the Cheap - The Dispatch (gift link).

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@isaacgreene thanks for the tip 

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Ohmigosh! I’ve known of Christian Wiman as a poet for many years now, but (1) I’m not sure I’ve really sampled him and (2) his poems collected in the volume Christian Poetry in America Since 1940 has really whetted my appetite. For instance:

\n\n

ALL MY FRIENDS ARE FINDING NEW BELIEFS

\n\n

All my friends are finding...

microblog.intellectualoid.com","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/26/ohmigosh-ive-known-of-christian.html","date_published":"2026-05-27T02:27:42+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":"2026-05-27 02:27","date_timestamp":1779848862,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90958509","content_html":"

@ReaderJohn I read the 64,500-word figure somewhere. It’s actually a little over 41,000.

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@JohnBrady I have sung quite a few funerals over the year. After my first one, I summed it up as “He’s dead, he’s dead, he’s really and truly dead, and soon you’ll be dead, too.” I’ve grasped nuances better since then.

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@JohnBrady I apparently had a one-sided view of him. Catholic social teaching is not neatly Left or Right.

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@JohnBrady MW exists to make every other conservative commentator look moderate.

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Yesterday, Pope Leo XIV issued a 64,500-word encyclical on Artificial Intelligence. Already I’ve seen two nationally-published columns critiquing it (plus the quip by @ayjay).

\n

I wonder if Matthew Walther and George Weigel used AI to analyze 64,500 densely-packed words so quickly?

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My Man Mitch (Daniels) returns to Purdue as Interim President after Mung Chiang headed to Evanston to lead Northwestern (I suspect that Chiang’s wife, an MD, will appreciate a high-class teaching hospital).

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@marmanold Didn’t know you were ex-Mormon. I resolved to read the Book of Mormon once but choked on the fake King James English, already archaic when Joseph Smith “translated” his find.

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@marmanold That sounds Mormon?! Boy, I’d better hide all contemporary Orthodox tomes from you!

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@JohnBrady we would no doubt do that except that our deacon is away at seminary still. 

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@JohnBrady I’m not sure I’m familiar with the practice Newport is interrogating. Do normalish people actually hold fluent conversations with chatbots as if exchanging pleasantries with another human?

\n

As for me, FWIW, I script my asks and then paste the script. I’ve never used voice.

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@canneddragons That’s happening some places. We’re not far from it, with the Narthex pretty full and doors open between it and the Nave many Sundays, especially when Purdue students are on campus.

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The headline was America’s sermons are becoming op-eds.

\n

The reality, be it remembered, proved to be America’s sermons from the mostly-evangelical pastors who stream their sermons so we can use AI-related tools to transcribe and analyze them, are more political than we, your betters, think proper.

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@JohnBrady Finally read the column. I think “dead-eyed White House trash panda” may lose by a nose to “coprophagic charlatan who once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler before becoming the full-time monkey-butler serving the totally-nothing-like-Hitler administration.” Soft spot for “coprophagic.”

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Eighth Day Books lives on! microblog.intellectualoid.com

","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/23/eighth-day-books-lives-on.html","date_published":"2026-05-23T17:02:50+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":"2026-05-23 17:02","date_timestamp":1779555770,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90780015","content_html":"

@JohnBrady I knew that, having read it once. But not having re-read it, and Fr. Seraphim not being a personal favorite, I didn’t see how to accurately and eloquently weave it in.

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@dwalbert No, but I’m withholding which administration it was because it looks so good in the rearview mirror.

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Free associating: During an administration a few decades ago, I put a bumper sticker on our car that said “My contempt with the current administration cannot be expressed here.” Then it became my wife’s car as I got something else.

\n

She was irate when I presumed to remove the sticker from her car.

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@jabel Very interesting perspective much of the world has - and I’m not damning by the faint praise of “interesting.”

\n

The Adversary is a shape-shifter, adapting well to various cultures. “UFO” works for us, or at least most of us, for now.

\n

(I have no dogmatic position on ETI)

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The Pennsylvania Constitution protects the right to earn an honest living free of unreasonable regulations. Who knew?

\n

The Institute for Justice is checking its teeth.

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@canneddragons Your wish is my command. Kevin D. Williamson

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This morning’s Epistle reading (Acts 20:7-12) reminds me that Christianity Today used to have a fortnightly potpourri column, anonymous if memory serves, titled Eutychus and His Kin - sort of like First Things' While We’re At It in spirit.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/23/this-mornings-epistle-reading-acts.html","date_published":"2026-05-23T11:11:05+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":"2026-05-23 11:11","date_timestamp":1779534665,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90763597","content_html":"

@tinyroofnail Diversion from the conscience/AI discussion to “blogging” ethos.

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I’ve had a Wordpress blog in active use for more than a decade. I finally drained the “here’s my opinion on X” pond and now write mostly as a curator. But I often go back and check my evolution on “big topics.”

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/90763597","date_published":"2026-05-23T10:41:01+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":"2026-05-23 10:41","date_timestamp":1779532861,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"90763176","content_html":"

@JohnBrady Amen. Sounds like Kevin D. Williamson, not Catoggio.

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> @jabel @JohnBrady @tinyroofnail @canneddragons @dwalbert

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Thank you for provoking this little discussion, Jeremy, and for all the other contributions so far. I missed it because I was busy having Claude Cowork help me with drafting to reorganize a corporate charity that needs to “up its game” because of very major gifts. Since I was never a “corporate lawyer” type, the project looked overwhelming, but Claude helped organize it with my plain language description of the situation.

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I’m a fiduciary. Months of sitting frozen like a deer in the headlights wasn’t an alternative.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/90762987","date_published":"2026-05-23T10:22:04+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":"2026-05-23 10:22","date_timestamp":1779531724,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"90669210","content_html":"

“Remind me of the pros and cons on X” (where X is fairly well-defined and the context of the question is given as well) has proven a fairly productive question to AI chatbots.

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If you think that’s lazy, well life is too short to “do your own research” on every little thing.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/remind-me-of-the-pros.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T22:29:20+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":"2026-05-21 22:29","date_timestamp":1779402560,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90658420","content_html":"

USPS has gone to electric delivery vans on my route. I just saw my first big, new, unmarked (?!) electric Amazon van.

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The Great Divorce is probably the most consequential book in my life, Bible aside.

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It made me ask “what are you doing to avoid becoming one who refuses Heaven’s invitation?” I saw no answer in traditions that said “you don’t need to do *any*thing.” Surely ego must be mortified!

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Steven Willing Reflects on...

microblog.intellectualoid.com","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/the-great-divorce-is-probably.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T19:35:35+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":"2026-05-21 19:35","date_timestamp":1779392135,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90656932","content_html":"

I had too many gift links for this late in the month, so I share this unusual column from Ross Douthat, superficially about sports fandom. But read between the lines, too.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/i-had-too-many-gift.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T19:12:50+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":"2026-05-21 19:12","date_timestamp":1779390770,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90655950","content_html":"

Avoiding the sun for medical reasons for another day. It’s been a long time since I listened to a Bill Evans mix as I worked on computer reading. 🎵

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A fitting companion to Ozymandias, albeit more light-hearted about the whole sorry affair.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/a-fitting-companion-to-ozymandias.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T18:35:27+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":"2026-05-21 18:35","date_timestamp":1779388527,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90637106","content_html":"

The late Barney Frank made me crazy 40 years ago, but he towers over today’s typical Congressman, who hires more media mavens than legislative assistants.

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I hope Democrats heed some of his last advice.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/the-late-barney-frank-made.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T14:41:53+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":"2026-05-21 14:41","date_timestamp":1779374513,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90634483","content_html":"

It wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that I’m a bit obsessive about a nearby primary election, but I think I’ve written something worth sharing: MAGA Influence in Indiana Elections: A Case Study – Tipsy Teetotaler ن

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The Longest Internet Blackout in History Is Crippling Iran’s Economy - WSJ

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via John Ellis News Items (paywalled).

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The bigger news, illustrated by Open AI’s disproving “Paul Erdős’ planar unit distance conjecture,” is that Artificial Superintelligence has arrived: “AI models … capable of having original ingenious ideas, and then carrying them out to fruition.”

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Ellis News is a no ephemera zone, chock-full of stuff that maybe incites just a bit too much chin-scratching for “popular” media.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/21/the-longest-internet-blackout-in.html","date_published":"2026-05-21T11:28:46+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":"2026-05-21 11:28","date_timestamp":1779362926,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90566741","content_html":"

I tend to suffer software FOMO, but the latest in my periodic looks at the very popular Notion software re-confirms that it would be more a geeky hobby for me than a real tool.

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I like Kanban in theory (one of its powers) but there are simpler ways for me to organize – I think.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/20/i-tend-to-suffer-software.html","date_published":"2026-05-20T15:13:39+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":"2026-05-20 15:13","date_timestamp":1779290019,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90566454","content_html":"

@jabel “a lot of people who criticize the nation of Israel are unjustly accused of antisemitism these days”

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That’s plausible, and I haven’t looked into Massie enough to decide for myself whether that’s the case with him.

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It can be hard needle to thread when Israel is so identified as jewish.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/ReaderJohn/90566454","date_published":"2026-05-20T15:09:53+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":"2026-05-20 15:09","date_timestamp":1779289793,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"90563808","content_html":"

@jabel I had no idea, but

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    \n
  1. I understand (very recently) that Massie frequently emits antisemitic quips or dogwhistles (that’s one reason why I might not have supported him were I in Kentucky, and the lobbies would surely notice); and
    2. \n
  2. It’s still a sleazy thing to say, consistent with point #1.
    3. \n
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Indiana's weird voting rules: microblog.intellectualoid.com

","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/20/indianas-weird-voting-rules.html","date_published":"2026-05-20T13:38:49+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":"2026-05-20 13:38","date_timestamp":1779284329,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90557889","content_html":"

I’m generally skeptical of stories about how it takes a bajillion dollars to raise a child, but my son is currently replacing all four tires on his car after one year. “I’m quite certain I didn’t scrub all the useful tread off brand new tires in 13 months.”

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/20/im-generally-skeptical-of-stories.html","date_published":"2026-05-20T12:51:43+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":"2026-05-20 12:51","date_timestamp":1779281503,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"90556579","content_html":"

In dark times, I’m glad I’ve got a subscription to a comics aggregator. Some rueful chuckles at political folly, some groaner wordplay from Frank & Ernest, and usually some pleasant surprises.

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Minor epiphany: I so detest Trump that I reflexively admire and support any Republican who he targets for revenge, despise his chosen alternative.

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That is foolish. Both Bill Cassidy and Thomas Massie were candidates I’d struggle to support but for the targets Trump painted on their backs.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://microblog.intellectualoid.com/2026/05/20/minor-epiphany-i-so-detest.html","date_published":"2026-05-20T11:29:41+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":"2026-05-20 11:29","date_timestamp":1779276581,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}