{"id":4784,"date":"2017-12-01T20:42:24","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T04:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=4784"},"modified":"2017-12-01T20:42:24","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T04:42:24","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-129","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/12\/01\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-129","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 129"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/2017\/11\/17\/the-homeless-who-help-themselves-get-a-needed-lift\/\">The homeless who help themselves get a needed lift<\/a> (Kevin Kelly, San Jose Mercury News): \u201cLifeMoves, formerly known as InnVision Shelter Network, is a 44-year-old [Bay Area] nonprofit that specializes in getting individuals into temporary housing and on a path to permanent housing. It claims a 93 percent success rate of getting homeless families housed and self-sufficient, and a 72 percent success rate with individuals. There is just one caveat: People who receive assistance \u2014 referred to as clients \u2014 must demonstrate a willingness to better themselves.\u201d&nbsp;<ul>\n<li>Related: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cracked.com\/personal-experiences-2543-5-harsh-realities-homeless-camps-nobody-talks-about.html\">5 Harsh Realities Of Homeless Camps Nobody Talks About<\/a> (Evan Symon, Cracked): \u201cIf you live in a major American city, you\u2019ve probably seen your fair share of homeless camps. They usually crop up in empty lots, parks, and Big Rock Candy Mountains. City governments generally have them torn down and cleaned up whenever they can. Leaving aside whether or not that\u2019s the right way to address homelessness, somebody has to do the work of cleaning those places up. Our source, Carol, did just&nbsp;that.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/11\/14\/africa\/libya-migrant-auctions\/index.html\">People for sale: Where lives are auctioned for $400<\/a> (Nima Elbagir, Raja Razek, Alex Platt and Bryony Jones, CNN). There is a text story at the link, but the embedded seven minute video is worth watching, especially the first four minutes. This is a horrifying development in the migrant crisis \u2014 slave auctions.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/imprimis.hillsdale.edu\/how-to-think-about-vladimir-putin\/\">How To Think About Vladimir Putin<\/a> (Christopher Caldwell, Imprimis): \u201cWhen Putin took power in the winter of 1999\u20132000, his country was defenseless. It was bankrupt. It was being carved up by its new kleptocratic elites, in collusion with its old imperial rivals, the Americans. Putin changed that\u2026. Russian people not only tolerate him, they revere him. You can get a better idea of why he has ruled for 17 years if you remember that, within a few years of Communism\u2019s fall, average life expectancy in Russia had fallen below that of Bangladesh. \u201d This is a slightly older article, and so his comments about Russia\u2019s role in the U.S. election aren\u2019t very current. His broader observations are worth pondering.<\/li>\n<li>The Supreme Court hears arguments about the Christian baker who refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding on Tuesday. Lots of people are writing about&nbsp;it.&nbsp;<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Against the baker: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/the-christian-legal-army-behind-masterpiece-cakeshop\/\">The Christian Legal Army Behind \u2018Masterpiece Cakeshop\u2019<\/a> (Sarah Posner, The Nation): \u201cOn December 5, with the full force of the United States government behind it, ADF will be asking the Supreme Court to carve out yawning exemptions from civil-rights laws for conservative Christians.\u201d (this is less about the case and more about the firm representing the baker \u2014 it\u2019s a hit piece but is full of interesting info)<\/li>\n<li>Against the baker: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/29\/opinion\/gay-religious-freedom-cake.html?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=0\">The Masterpiece Cakeshop Case Is Not About Religious Freedom<\/a> (Jennifer Finney Boylan, New York Times): \u201cBut Masterpiece has nothing to do with religious freedom. It\u2019s about enshrining a freedom to discriminate. Historically, religious exemptions from the law have occasionally been granted to protect the person who holds the belief. But this case is different, in that it gives an individual the right to harm someone else. And that\u2019s what the Masterpiece case is about: It would give individuals the right to discriminate.\u201d The author is an English professor at Barnard College.<\/li>\n<li>Against the baker: <a href=\"http:\/\/prospect.org\/article\/gay-wedding-cake-case-isn%E2%80%99t-about-free-speech\">The Gay Wedding Cake Case Isn\u2019t About Free Speech<\/a> (Andrew Koppelman, The American Prospect).\u201dIt is merely telling him that if he sells any products to heterosexual couples, he must sell the same products to same-sex couples. He is free to refuse to write \u2018Support Gay Marriage\u2019 on any cakes that he sells, so long as he refuses that to both gay and heterosexual customers. So this is an easy case. Phillips should lose.\u201c The author is a law professor at Northwestern. This is the strongest argument I have read against the Christian baker.<\/li>\n<li>For the baker: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/454228\/masterpiece-cakeshop-case-stop-misrepresenting\">Stop Misrepresenting Masterpiece Cakeshop<\/a> (David French, National Review): \u201cPhillips isn\u2019t discriminating against a protected class. I\u2019ll repeat this until I\u2019m blue in the face. He serves gay customers.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>For the baker: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thepublicdiscourse.com\/2017\/11\/20581\/\">The Christian Baker\u2019s Unanswered Legal Argument: Why the Strongest Objections Fail<\/a> (Sherif Girgis, Public Discourse): \u201cShould an Islamophobic sect get to force Muslim caricaturists to sketch mocking images of the Prophet? Clearly not.\u201d Disclaimer: Sherif was a roommate of one of our alumni and is an acquaintance of&nbsp;mine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Dueling perspectives on the family lives of blue state and red state Americans:&nbsp;<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/11\/18\/opinion\/sunday\/blue-states-red-states-values.html\">Blue States Practice the Family Values Red States Preach<\/a> (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times): \u201cThe liberal impulse may be to gloat: <i>Those conservatives thunder about \u2018family values\u2019 but don\u2019t practice them. <\/i>But there\u2019s also perhaps a measure of hypocrisy in the blue states. As Cahn and Carbone put it: \u2018Blue family values bristle at restrictions on sexuality, insistence on marriage or the stigmatization of single parents. Their secret, however, is that they encourage <i>their<\/i> children to simultaneously combine public tolerance with private discipline, and their children then overwhelmingly choose to raise their own children within two-parent families.\u2019\u201d Kristof is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who was a Rhodes Scholar and is on the Board of Overseers for Harvard University.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2017\/11\/28\/no-republicans-arent-hypocrites-on-family-values-215873\">No, Republicans Aren\u2019t Hypocrites on Family Values<\/a> W. Bradford Wilcox and Vijay Menon, Politico): \u201cIn other words, even though Southerners in general are at greater risk of family instability than Northerners, Republicans in the South enjoy markedly higher levels of family stability than their fellow citizens\u2014a family stability advantage that puts them above Democrats and independents in the North. Another way to put this: It\u2019s blue and purple Americans in the South who are really pulling down family stability in the South, not red Americans.\u201d Wilcox is a sociology prof at UVA, where Minon is also a grad student.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fathommag.com\/stories\/we-didn-t-become-christians-because-of-the-hucksters\">We Didn\u2019t Become Christians Because Of The Hucksters<\/a> (Michael Wear, Fathom): \u201cIf the world criticizes the pride of someone who claims the name of Christ\u2014or who won the votes of those who do\u2014point them to Jesus, who was born into poverty, who instructed his followers to take the low position, and humbled himself on the way to the cross\u2026. There is nothing so wrong with the poor example of Christians that can\u2019t be solved by proclaiming the perfect example of Christ.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-allen-serra-stanford-20171130-story.html\">Stanford can take Junipero Serra\u2019s name off its buildings, but it can\u2019t purge him from its history<\/a> (Charlotte Allen, LA Times): \u201cThe Main Quad, part of a master plan designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, imitates Serra\u2019s missions (with some Romanesque touches). Besides the Mall and the boulevard, other campus streets are named after his friar-disciples (Lasu\u00e9n and Francisco Pal\u00f3u), as well as Jos\u00e9 de G\u00e1lvez, the inspector general for New Spain who facilitated Serra\u2019s missionary work in Alta California. If the Stanford activists aim to obliterate Serra\u2019s presence from their campus, they\u2019ve got their work cut out for them.\u201d I didn\u2019t know Serra\u2019s influence was so pervasive at Stanford.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Amusing<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/man-coming-year-long-coma-excited-catch-humanitys-progress\/\">Man Coming Out Of Year-Long Coma Excited To Catch Up On Humanity\u2019s Progress<\/a> (Babylon Bee): that poor, poor&nbsp;soul<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/gallery\/osbGc\">How to Save Money This Christmas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/5ebfb9dedfbdf8740c765b2bdc5c533d\/tumblr_inline_ozmt2qoP5U1rp2l9y_540.png\">Why Superman Wears a Cape<\/a> (texts from superheroes)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/pics\/comments\/7gp11d\/this_vanity_tag\/\">Let This Vanity License Plate Console You as Finals Draw Near<\/a> (be encouraged \u2014 it is truer than you believe)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/imgur.com\/TNgWYz9\">What Is Even Happening in This Gif? <\/a> trying to imagine the backstory hurts my&nbsp;brain<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n<p>Every week I\u2019ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theplayerstribune.com\/ryan-leaf-nfl-letter-to-my-younger-self\/?utm_content=buffer55060&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=facebook.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer\">Letter To My Younger Self<\/a> (Ryan Leaf, The Player\u2019s Tribune): \u201cCongratulations. You officially have it all \u2014 money, power and prestige. All the things that are important, right?\u2026 That\u2019s you, young Ryan Leaf, at his absolute finest: arrogant, boorish and narcissistic. You think you\u2019re on top of the world and that you\u2019ve got all the answers. Well I\u2019m sorry to have to tell you this, but the truth is\u2026.\u201d Such a gripping letter. Highly recommended. (first shared in <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/05\/05\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-99\">volume 99<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h3><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I\u2019ll usually mention it).<\/p>\n<p>Also, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about&nbsp;it.<\/p>\n<p>Archives at <a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way. Things Glen Found Interesting The homeless who help themselves get a needed lift (Kevin Kelly, San Jose Mercury News): \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/12\/01\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-129\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 129\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Wow - homelessness, slavery, Vladimir Putin, and lots about the Christian baker case.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16,1],"tags":[127,113,117,173,138,184,178,135],"class_list":["post-4784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","category-of-random-interest","tag-history","tag-lgbtq","tag-politics","tag-poverty","tag-religious-freedom","tag-russia","tag-slavery","tag-stanford"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1fa","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4784"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4789,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4784\/revisions\/4789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}