Wednesday Wonderings (11.1.23) Prayer-as-a-Service

Do intros help? Or is it landing the way a family history in a marinara sauce recipe does? Getting in the way of what you & Google need? Feel strongly in the comments if the mood strikes you! Also subscribe if someone sent this to you!

In Mississippi, most voters will have no choice about who represents them in the Legislature (AP) This gets at the central issue with American democracy. The two party system yields to the one party option as you move from national to local. AOC only won by 4800 votes, and that was in the Democratic primary, as the GOP hasn’t been competitive in that district for decades. That leads to calcification, corruption, and the general Feinstein-ification of Congress.

The Extremist Blockade of Congress Is Actually a Failure of the DOJ (Fact Keepers) If you openly support(ed) insurrection, the 14th Amendment is pretty clear that you don’t get to be in government anymore. This not being enforced is why we have a House being held hostage by people so right-wing they were disappointed by Jim Jordan.

Black-Owned Land Is Under Siege in the Brazos Valley (Texas Monthly) Stories like this are why Gen Z leftists post memes about Mao Zedong and landlords.

Wow, Clarence Thomas Sure Loves Debt Forgiveness When He Benefits From It (Balls and Strikes) & Democrats Will Vote to Subpoena Two of Clarence Thomas’s Rich and Powerful Pals (Esquire) & Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo are lesser known, but influential billionaires in the GOP Extended Cinematic Universe, funding the Birch Society, Federalist Society, and generally sugar daddy’ing about Capitol Hill. But, who knows, Justice Thomas might actually start to smell the vapors of consequences.

US economy going strong under Biden – Americans don’t believe it (The Guardian) & Why the Full Employment Created by Bidenomics Should Be Celebrated (American Prospect) Biden deserves plenty of crap, but from an economics perspective, his policies did actually do what the wonks hoped. It’s always refreshing when someone eats crow, especially on the left, as Ryan Cooper is doing. This is boring, but the important stuff usually is.

Factual Dispatch thanks you! Share it if the mood strikes you!

More Americans say they support political violence ahead of the 2024 election (NPR) & New Survey Breaks Down America’s Complicated Landscape (American Communities Project) This map by the ACL is a fantastic look at America’s varied priorities/problems based on community type. Which might explain why we have such varied opinions on how many guns are needed to change our country for the better.

Misinformation reloaded? Fears about the impact of generative AI on misinformation are overblown (Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy) Sober analysis to throw some much needed cold water on anyone who is running around screaming that AI will obliterate the 2024 election. Don’t worry, American humans are quite capable of ruining an election without ClippyGPT.

AI in Religion: Christians Use AI Chatbots for Prayers & AI Modi started as a joke, but it could win him votes (Rest of World) AI for sermon creation, bible study, and even prayer services, now in heavy use by South Korean Christians. On the other side of Asia, we’re seeing a lighter side of Modi, as created by AI. This is how you soften the blows of authoritarianism, and JibJab only wishes they could do this as well.

Massive Drone Swarm Over Strait Decisive In Taiwan Conflict Wargames (The Drive) We’ve talked about swarm warfare in the past, but to see it notched specifically in the “win with this, lose without it” is wild to see. Here’s to hoping it stays in the wargames.

The exam that broke society (Aeon) The keju, the spiritual predecessor of the Chinese civil service exam, required memorizing of ~400,000 characters & phrases from Confucian thought. This piece by MIT Prof. Yasheng Huang, masterfully illustrates the centuries of mental effort that have been spent attempting this, vs. bettering the bureaucracy it guarded. A cautionary tale for exposing your kids to real life vs hours of SAT prep a week, but on the scale of millions of lives and thousands of years.

Quote of the week

The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass, God is waiting for you. ~Werner Heisenberg

Poem of the week

By Clint Smith 

Vibe of the week

Heimanu picked up Nero’s Innocence, a masterpiece from…over a decade ago. Neo-Rave at its finest.

What is the last thing you changed your mind about? T